Sun's Joy: Academy of Despair
by pochapal
Summary: Sixteen students carrying the world's hopes on their shoulders suddenly find themselves in the academy of their dreams. But this hope soon turns to despair as they find there is no way out. Well, unless you count what the strange black and white teddy bear said. But really, who would actually go as far as to kill another? Surely there must be another way out. Right?
1. Prologue

**A/N: Hello there. This story is an idea of mine that's been bouncing around for a while: my own version of the School Life of Mutual Killing. Now, I must stress that this is NOT a SYOC, which seem to be everywhere. These characters are entirely the product of my imagination, and it is coincidence if they happen to resemble other characters seen in other fanfics. Now, without any more rambling, let us descend into the deepest realms of despair...**

* * *

Enhanced Talent Academies. That was what they were known as. Schools that catered only to the exceptional geniuses of the world. They were symbols of the world's hope, built with one goal in mind: to preserve the future. And by focusing on enhancing extraordinary talents displayed by the youth population, they would hopefully breed a new super-generation. One that would set the world free of despair, and send it spiralling into hope. That was the dream shared by the people behind this.

But, they failed to take into account that as always, the slightest traces of despair were interlaced with the rays of hope. By the time the founders of the academy realised this, it would be too late to do anything about it. The students had already been enrolled, and the semester was due to begin in a matter of days. But despair had seeped into the walls of the academies, and none of the students were aware of the suffering that would follow.

One academy in particular, known as Sun's Joy Academy, would experience despair at its worst.

The staff had all been murdered weeks ago. The remnants of the massacre had long been cleaned up. Adjustments had been made to the campus, situated on a remote island in the Pacific. It was ready to accommodate this new school life the students would be experiencing.

But the academy was not desolate; no, there remained one figure within the doors, sitting at a desk, staring over several surveillance screens. They shifted in their seat, and began to laugh as they stared at a file on the desk.

"Upupu..."

_Sun's Joy Academy_

_Student Roster_

_Melissa Arthurs – Enhanced Talent Level Novelist_

_Andrew Cyrus – Enhanced Talent Level Racer_

_Chelsea Dennis – Enhanced Talent Level Ballerina_

_Naomi Fenne – Enhanced Talent Level Skater_

_Charlotte 'Charlie' Grath – Enhanced Talent Level Gardener_

_Nina Harrison – Enhanced Talent Level Video Game Designer_

_Shauna Kerzenna – Enhanced Talent Level Toy Maker_

_Joel Miller – Enhanced Talent Level Lifeguard_

_Dirk Parker – Enhanced Talent Level Hacker_

_Ben Raiser – Enhanced Talent Level Abstract Artist_

_Mark Sanders – Enhanced Talent Level Reporter_

_John Smith – Enhanced Talent Level Empathic_

_Marian Tanner – Enhanced Talent Level Lawyer_

_Wyatt Temple – Enhanced Talent Level Fashion Designer_

_Ella Walker – Enhanced Talent Level Sound Engineer_

_Carlos Woods – Enhanced Talent Level Blogger_

These were the sixteen names of those who would carry the hopes of the future on their backs. And whilst they were a cut above the rest of society, none of them would come to the academy prepared for what faced them.

It was despair in its purest form.


	2. First Arrivals

**A/N: Hey. Here's the next chapter of this story, in which we meet the first half of the ETLs and see the academy. Hopefully it all doesn't get too confusing, and hopefully the characters seen so far all stand out in their own way. The other half of the cast, as well as more of the academy, will be seen in the next chapter. But for now, let's just focus on getting to know the first set of students. :)**

* * *

Early morning sunlight broke over the horizon, colouring the Pacific Ocean a brilliant red colour. There was no cloud in the sky, allowing for the beautiful hues to be visible clearly. For the passengers of the sixteen helicopters currently flying towards a large island containing the campus of Sun's Joy Academy, it was a good omen that their upcoming year was going to be amazing.

Melissa leaned back in her seat, adjusting her seat belt as she looked out of the window. The sound of the whirring helicopter blades above her head was almost therapeutic. However, despite the serene atmosphere, Melissa found her mind whirring away. Her fingers twitched over the keys of her laptop, the word processor open. The white blank page stared at her, but that was okay. Her goal was to write a novel before the end of the school year, with it ready to be sent away to a publisher's before the next year began. Of course, this was nothing special considering how she already had completed a young adult dystopian trilogy over the space of two and a half years with film rights set to be discussed this winter. And luckily, the scene presented in front of her would make for the perfect opening to a book. Currently, the genres that were bouncing around in her brain included disaster, murder mystery, and straight-up horror. However, the only problem was that it would be hard to get global marketing on those genres, due to the recent terrorist disasters in Japan known merely as the Most Despairing Event in the History of Mankind. It was kind of dramatic, but the media would look down on her as being insensitive if she were to write anything that even remotely resembled what happened over there. Even though very little was actually being disclosed about the event in question. Whatever. Melissa knew she would still have a chance; she was just grateful that she wasn't born early enough for her to begin writing around the time of the 9/11 crisis. Nobody would have even looked at her book the moment they came across the first mention of a gun.

But for now, Melissa would have time away from the high-pressure media world, and would be able to balance education, writing, and a new social life. Previously, she had been somewhat of an outcast – her peers had alienated her, and Melissa had been too withdrawn with writing to really interact with people. Sure, she had been successful, but Melissa knew she was missing out on a major part of development. And hopefully, this academy would offer her the perfect social environment. After all, only the Enhanced Talent Levels, or ETLs, would be getting in. They were all students who had gone above and beyond in their respective fields. From the website, Melissa had seen a huge array of personalities. Some students seemed on a whole other level; Melissa had been especially impressed with the ballerina and lawyer. She knew from her research that they were very vicious worlds to live in, and felt only respect for them. And then there were those that were surprising, such as a hacker and a toy maker. They were a little unusual, but it just went to show how varied the world was. Overall, Melissa was looking forward to the new school year, and getting to know these people.

Melissa looked out of the window again, and saw the island drawing up closer. The pilot of the helicopter turned around, and looked at her.

"Hey, miss," he said. "We're almost there, so get your stuff ready."

"Of course!" Melissa said enthusiastically. She snapped her laptop shut, and placed it in her messenger bag. The rest of her luggage had already been sent to the academy as per arrangement, but Melissa's bag and laptop never left her side. She then adjusted her seat belt again, tightening it.

"Prepare for a sudden drop," the pilot said, before turning around, and beginning to lower the helicopter. Melissa looked out of her window in awe as they descended towards the landing pad. She saw the beautiful beach that surrounded the island, along with the palm trees that dotted the land. And in the middle of the island was its heart: the large campus of Sun's Joy Academy. The name was a little cheesy, but the reputation far exceeded the odd choice of name. And besides, it would probably grow on Melissa throughout the year.

The helicopter came to a stop, landing on the landing pad. The blades continued to whir for a few more minutes, before they slowed to a stop. The pilot then left the helicopter, and walked around to Melissa's door, opening it. She unstrapped herself from her seat, and climbed out of the helicopter, offering a quiet "Thanks" as she did so. Her running shoes touched the light grey concrete below, and she breathed in the slightly salty sea air. A light breeze generated by the helicopter made her pencil skirt ripple a little. It almost felt like Melissa was on vacation instead of about to start school, but that was all part of the experience. It would definitely help with the general environment of the academy; already Melissa felt her anxieties over the academy fade away, instead being replaced with a sense of wonder.

"The academy's just down this road," the pilot said, pointing to Melissa's right. She looked, and saw a road surrounded by palm trees. At the end, she could see the large gates of Sun's Joy Academy. A smile crossed her face, and her green eyes lit up with joy. "It's a five minute walk. So enjoy the scenery, and have a good year."

"Thank you," Melissa said, smiling. She then turned away from the pilot, and began to walk down the road, adjusting her blonde hair, fixing the ponytail it was tied in. Once completed, her hair fell down her back, resting comfortably on her light green cardigan placed above a white blouse. Melissa had thought long and hard about her choice of outfit, and had decided this would help make the best impression possible.

She looked up, seeing the sun shining down on the bright green palm leaves, creating a soft shade over the road. The island was quiet and peaceful, and for a moment, Melissa could hear the soft sound of the waves washing up on the shore. But then the whirring sound of the helicopter started up and Melissa looked behind her to see the pilot taking off, vanishing into the early morning sky. But just as soon as Melissa's helicopter vanished, she saw another one fly over her head, landing on the other side of the island. She wondered which student was inside the helicopter, and whether or not she would get along with them. Just thinking about meeting the students was filling her with excitement, and Melissa began to pick up the pace as she walked along the road. Her bag swung around as she sped up, but the laptop remained secure and safe. Hopefully Melissa would be able to access her new room straight away, so that she could put her laptop on charge before meeting her fellow students.

In front of Melissa, the golden gates of the academy drew closer, almost beckoning her to them. She slowed down, blushing. This was no way to enter the academy! She had to perfectly showcase her personality to the other students so they would get the best impression possible. In a way, it was like writing the introduction chapter of a novel: she had to reveal enough about herself to get their attention without dumping every last detail of her life straight away. It would be kind of boring, and might put off some of the students from really talking to her. Melissa smoothed her blouse, and walked towards the gates again, this time at a slower pace. The bag barely moved by her side, looking perfectly like a fashion accessory. The beige colour of the bag did make her legs look paler than Melissa would have liked, and she felt rather conscious about it, but decided that she wouldn't waste her time on anyone who was only looking at her for her legs.

Melissa took another step forward, and found herself standing right in front of the gates. She peered through the bars, and saw a tall building behind a large fountain. There were also rows of flower beds lining the path, and she could see a few more buildings surrounding the main building. She recalled the campus map, and realised that what she could see was only a small portion of what was on offer. She couldn't wait. Her gaze then drifted to the large brick wall surrounding the site, and saw an intercom built into the wall; it reminded her of the drive-thru screens in fast food restaurants. She walked up to the screen, and as she did so, it buzzed to life, showing the academy's crest: a golden sun on a shield, with the phrase _Mane oritur sol radium spei_ written on it. Melissa wasn't the best at languages, but from what she could gather, it said something to the effect of _Rays of hope come in on the morning sun_. It was a profound statement, and she felt joy welling up inside her. This was truly a cut above the rest.

"_Welcome to Sun's Joy Academy!_" A strange, childish cartoon-like voice suddenly burst out from the speaker, catching Melissa's attention. "_Please insert your Student Pass into the slot below the screen!_"

"Oh! Okay!" Melissa said, smiling. She reached into her cardigan, and pulled out a slip of paper with an image of her, along with information such as her name, date of birth, and ETL. There was a bar code on the bottom of the piece of paper, and Melissa fed it into the machine. The screen changed colour, showing an image of Melissa, with a caption underneath. It read, "Melissa Arthurs: ETL Novelist." Melissa stared at it for a moment, letting it sink in. She was a registered student. It was really happening.

"_Please take your ElectroID from the dispenser tray below the screen! Enjoy your time here at Sun's Joy Academy!_" Melissa watched as a small electronic PDA was dispensed into a tray below the screen. She bent down, and grabbed it. There was a small power switch on the device, and Melissa switched it on, seeing the academy's crest appear in the screen before it was replaced with the same image of Melissa that had been on the larger screen moments before (it had turned off now). She lightly tapped the screen, and opened up an options menu, with several headers such as 'Academy Rules' and 'About Your ElectroID'. Melissa pressed the 'About Your ElectroID' button, and read through the following text.

**Your ElectroID is your personal form of identification. You can use it to view important information about the academy, such as the rules and timetables, as well as updates throughout the school year. It is important to note that your ElectroID serves as a key – you can use it to access areas such as your dorm room, the bathrooms, and changing rooms. Also, please note that only your own ElectroID will be able to be used to unlock your dorm room, so try not to lose it!**

Melissa smiled at the information. The staff here sure had everything figured out. And as she held the ElectroID in her hands, Melissa knew that her bag would gain one more electronic device to carry around. She looked back at the screen, about to select the 'Academy Rules' button, when a groaning noise sounded out. She turned her head to see the golden gates swing open, revealing the campus of Sun's Joy Academy. Melissa placed the ElectroID into her cardigan pocket, and stood there for a moment, in awe. It was finally time to begin her new life. A sense of excited anticipation filled Melissa, and she found herself unable to keep collected. She was soon speed-walking through the gates, entering the campus.

As Melissa walked down the path, she took in her surroundings. The path was lined with flowerbeds, but some areas had yet to see blooming plants. Smaller paths branched off from the main path to allow someone to walk through the flowerbeds and enjoy their surroundings. It looked like it would definitely turn out to be quite the romantic setting, and for a moment, Melissa pictured herself walking past the flowers with a boy, hand-in-hand. She quickly shook the silly thought from her mind, and instead looked elsewhere. She spotted two buildings to her right; one was quite small, but the other was larger and more dome shaped. It was probably some kind of sporting facility. Perhaps it was a swimming pool or something. That would be nice. The smaller one looked less modern, and more like a small cabin or something. It probably contained a few classrooms or something. Melissa looked to her left, and saw three more buildings. One looked like a miniature apartment building with a large set of revolving doors serving as the entrance. Another one was a fairly average-sized building, albeit with several windows. The last building, however, caught Melissa's attention. It was large, and looked more like a traditional building. But Melissa _knew_ this type of building when she saw it: it was a library. This was all before she saw the large book sign hanging above the entrance. Immediately she knew where she would be spending most of her free time.

Melissa looked away from the buildings, and looked ahead as the large fountain drew closer. Water spilled from the top, splashing into the area surrounding it, creating for a beautiful effect. She stepped around it, careful to avoid getting herself wet, and continued along the path, up to the front doors of the main building. Looking up, Melissa saw how tall it truly was, and wondered why they would need to build something so large if there were then smaller buildings scattered around the campus. Perhaps the number of students attending was large enough that they required this extra space. Whatever the reason, Melissa decided it would be for a good reason. She stepped forwards, and pushed open the doors to the academy, stepping inside.

The hallway Melissa was now in was pleasantly lit, and as she walked forwards, noticing the classrooms lining the walls, she realised how immaculate this place was. It was nothing like her old high school. It truly was a different world altogether. Melissa glanced through the windows of the classroom doors, and saw that the rooms were empty. The teachers were probably all hanging around wherever Melissa was supposed to go. She looked away from the classrooms, and at the end of the hallway, found a sign on a stand with writing on it, reading "This way to the meeting hall! ==". Melissa found it a little odd, but at least it was telling her where to go. She turned right, and continued down another hallway. More classrooms lined the walls, but at the far end was a large set of double doors. Melissa walked towards the doors, and upon reaching them, she pushed them open, stepping into the meeting hall.

Melissa stood there for a moment, taking in the meeting hall. It was a large room with several chairs set out. At the far end of the hall was a stage with a podium on it, but it was currently empty. Melissa then noticed a few other students standing around before the stage, engaging in conversation. A sudden surge of anxiety filled her, and she found herself frozen. Her socially awkward self suddenly rose up from the depths of her mind, and threatened to ruin yet another chance at getting a social life. No, she was not going to let this happen. Not this time. Melissa took a step forward before she could change her mind, heading closer to the other students, when suddenly, something descended from above, landing in her face.

"Boo!"

Melissa screamed as a small puppet dangled in front of her eyes whimsically. It had long, floppy limbs supported by strings, and the mouth moved separately. The puppet also was wearing a little black suit, complete with tiny dress shoes. But despite this analysis, Melissa felt her heart pounding as it stared at her, reminding her of one too many late-night horror movies. She took a step back, and bumped into something behind her.

"Oh my god!" Melissa exclaimed as she turned around, seeing another student standing behind her. "I'm so sorry!"

"It's fine!" she replied enthusiastically. She was a small girl, with dark skin and dark hair done up in a large braid. Two red ribbons adorned her hair, and she was wearing a white floral top with a denim skirt and black pumps. "I didn't mean for Cammy here to scare you!" The girl motioned to the puppet which was being suspended by strings she was holding. Melissa quickly managed to gather herself, and let out a laugh.

"It's quite fine," she said. "Just give me warning next time!"

"I will!" the girl said. She then extended a hand. "Name's Shauna: ETL Toy Maker!"

"I'm Melissa," Melissa said. "ETL Novelist."

"Wow!" Shauna exclaimed, holding the puppet she called Cammy in her arms. "That's so cool! I've actually read your books! They were awesome!"

"You think so?" Melissa said, surprised at how easy it was to make conversation.

"Yeah!" Shauna said, full of energy. "Anyway, Melissa, have you talked with the others yet?"

"No," Melissa said. "I've just arrived, actually."

"Haha, me too," Shauna said, clutching Cammy tightly. "And anyway, you seem like a nice girl. How about we go meet the others together?"

"I don't see why not," Melissa said.

"Great!" Shauna exclaimed, walking past Melissa. "Let's go!"

Melissa smiled to herself as she followed Shauna down the hall. The girl sure was a lively one, and from this brief meeting, Melissa assumed she would be the type to be friends with everyone; the go-to gal for the crowd of the talented. Already she knew the social dynamic would be harmonious, provided there weren't any particularly strong personalities that would clash with Shauna's air of positivity. Most likely there wouldn't be, but Melissa's inner pessimist told her to expect some form of disappointment. However, she swallowed these thoughts, and quickly caught up with Shauna as they approached the group of students.

In total, there were maybe five or six of them standing together, lost in conversation. Melissa was once again won over by the wonderful atmosphere, but Shauna didn't take notice, and began to stride towards the others, a large grin plastered on her face. But before either of them could reach the rest of the group, a figure walked up to them.

"Hello there!" he said as he approached. "May I have the honour of interviewing two lovely ETL ladies?" Melissa found his entire attitude charmingly engaging. He was holding a video camera in one hand, and a microphone in the other. He had fair skin with slightly messy dark hair, and wide blue eyes. His attire consisted of a white dress shirt partially unbuttoned with a black tie hanging around his neck, black pants, and most surprisingly, a pair of red running shoes. But before Melissa could respond to his request, Shauna jumped at the opportunity.

"Of course!" she said. "I'm Shauna: ETL Toy Maker, and this is my friend, Melissa! She's the ETL Novelist, by the way!"

"Ah, I see!" he replied, smiling warmly. Melissa smiled back. "I'm Mark, the ETL Reporter, at your service."

"I thought your face was familiar..." Melissa said wistfully. "Hey. Weren't you part of the team that reported on the despair disaster in Japan?"

"The one and only," Mark replied, flashing a grin. "That was what landed me my invitation to this academy in the first place." He motioned to the microphone. "Anyway, enough about me: how did you two get in?"

"Me?" Melissa said as Mark placed the microphone closer to her. "It's because of that dystopian trilogy I concluded last year. You know, the one addressing the themes of nature versus technology? Film rights set for next year?"

"Oh my god!" Mark said. "I love those books! I feel like I'm in the presence of a real-life celebrity!"

"Oh, stop it," Melissa said, laughing. "I'm only here to study, not to lord my best-sellers over you all."

"And what a humble attitude!" Mark exclaimed. "It truly shows what an amazing person you are!" He then turned to face Shauna. "And what about you, Shauna? What landed you in Sun's Joy?"

"It was pretty simple!" Shauna said. "Last holiday period, the local toy store near my home had a crisis, and I was called in to help. I ended up making thirty nine individualised toys for all the kids that day. And for most of them, it was their favourite gift! After that, an invitation just slipped into my mail like magic, and here I am!"

"Well, if that isn't ETL worthy then I don't know what is!" Mark said, chuckling as he pulled the microphone away from Shauna. "A real life Miss Santa Claus!"

"Now you're just being flattering," Shauna said, adjusting Cammy in her arms. "But I'm glad you like us! And may I ask why you're filming us?"

"It's simple!" Mark said. "I want to capture every moment of this year, and see how we all change and grow as people."

"So kind of like a documentary?" Melissa said.

"Exactly," Mark replied. "My first goal is to interview each student before the semester officially begins, and interview everyone again a couple of weeks later to gain a general consensus on how the academy is."

"That sounds pretty neat!" Shauna said. "Have you interviewed anyone else yet?"

"As a matter of fact, I have!" Mark said proudly. "So far, besides you two, I've interviewed the ETL Fashion Designer, the ETL Skater, and the ETL Lifeguard. They all seem just as friendly as you two, and I'm sure we'll all get along great!"

"I hope so," Melissa said. "It's been a while since I've had the opportunity to make some friends."

"Well, good luck with that," Mark said. Melissa noticed he was looking off into the distance. His eyes lit up, and Melissa knew he had found another student to interview. "Now if you don't mind, I've got a few more people to interview! See you around!"

"See you!" Shauna said, waving. She pulled a couple of strings, and made Cammy wave too. The puppet still made Melissa feel uneasy, but she put it to one side. Shauna was a nice girl, and it would be entirely unprofessional to judge her by her hobbies.

"We still have the other students over there to talk to," Melissa said, pointing towards the stage.

"You're right!" Shauna said. Her face burst into a wide grin. "Let's go make more friends."

The two girls had barely made it to the small crowd before someone came speeding towards them.

"Watch out!" she exclaimed. Melissa moved out of the way, but Shauna was too slow to move, and found herself crashing to the ground along with the high-speed girl. Cammy fell from her arms, and launched through the air. Melissa expertly caught the puppet, and set it down on a seat. Cammy's head slumped into its shoulder, and it stared lifelessly at the stage.

"Hey, be careful next time!" Shauna groaned as she pulled herself up, straightening her ribbons out.

"Oh my god, I'm all kinds of sorry!" the other girl responded, standing up. She was a tall and thin Asian girl with tanned skin and long dark hair tied up in a high ponytail. The ends of her hair were dyed in the colours of the rainbow. She was wearing an unzipped leather jacket, dyed deep blue. Underneath the jacket was a black vest top with a graphic print of what Melissa could only assume was a K-Pop boy band. As well as this, she wore a pair of low-cut cycling shorts, and a pair of roller skates over a pair of knee-high rainbow socks. She certainly appeared to be a quirky character. "I swear that I will definitely not be doing something like that again!"

"It's fine, really!" Shauna said, laughing. The other girl laughed too. "I'm Shauna, and I'm the ETL Toy Maker."

"Haha, that sounds rad as hell!" the other girl said. "I'm Naomi: ETL Skater!" She struck a pose, placing a hand on her hips, and winking.

"You sure have planned out that introduction, haven't you?" Melissa said absently.

"Of course I have!" Naomi replied. She flashed a wide smile, and Melissa awkwardly returned the sentiment, overwhelmed by the explosive personality. "I need to make the greatest impression possible!"

"You've certainly left an impression on me," Melissa said dryly.

"Anyway," Naomi said, dragging out the vowels. "I don't think I caught your ETL, so do you mind filling a girl in?"

"Oh, sure!" Melissa said. "I'm Melissa, the ETL Novelist."

"Whoa!" Naomi said. She flashed another huge smile. "That's awesome! I wish I could write a book! I've tried a few times, but I always kept getting distracted."

"Writing takes a lot of time, dedication, and patience," Melissa said. "It's not something to step lightly into."

"Ain't that the truth!" Naomi said. "Anyway, I'll catch you two girls later: I've gotta go meet some other cool peeps!"

Both Melissa and Shauna watched as Naomi skated down the hall, giggling as she did so.

"She was certainly interesting," Shauna said. "Maybe a bit too much to hang around with all the time."

"She seems nice enough though," Melissa said. "Oh, by the way, I put your puppet on one of the chairs."

"Thanks!" Shauna said, retrieving Cammy.

"Hey, is that a puppet?" a voice called out. Shauna and Melissa turned their heads to see a boy with short brown hair walking up to them. He was wearing a white t-shirt with a pair of jeans and running shoes. He looked fairly average compared to everyone else Melissa had seen so far.

"Yeah!" Shauna replied. "Isn't he awesome?"

"He sure is!" the boy replied. He also looked at Melissa. "I suppose I should introduce myself, then. I'm John Smith: ETL Empathic."

"John Smith?" Melissa questioned. "There's no way that's your real name."

"Afraid so!" John replied. "My parents thought it was neat: give an incredibly ordinary name to someone who is anything but!"

"And may I ask just what your ETL entails?" Melissa asked.

"Sure!" John said. "Being an empathic means that basically, I can easily put myself into anyone's shoes at any given moment, as well as being able to sense emotions perfectly."

"Really?" Shauna said. "So it's sort of like a psychologist?"

"Kind of," John said. "And if you introduce yourselves, I'll give you a demonstration of my talent!"

"Okay then!" Shauna said. "I'm Shauna: ETL Toy Maker!"

"I'm Melissa," Melissa said. "I'm the ETL Novelist."

"Cool!" John said, laughing. "Now, as promised, I'll give a demonstration. Just be aware that I may get a little too personal."

"That's fine!" Shauna said. "We're all trying to be open with each other, anyway!"

"All right then!" John said. "So, I'll do Melissa first. Based on my assumptions, it is safe to say that you are enthusiastic about interacting with people, but have inner doubts that could almost be classified as social anxieties if you didn't keep them in check as good as you do. As well as this, you are currently viewing these meetings as some form of character study, and you are evaluating everyone as you would a character in a book. And, I'm also detecting hints of some form of attraction." John winked at that last comment, and Melissa blushed.

"If it helps, it's not you," she said airily, fiddling with her bag's strap to draw the attention away from herself.

"I know that," John said. "Your attraction wasn't showing when I was talking to you, so it's clearly some other guy in here." He looked at Melissa, and quickly added, "Or girl, if that's who you like."

"Who I like is none of your business," Melissa said. "Affairs of the heart are private, deeply personal things. If it's important, I'll discuss it with you."

"Fine," John said. "Sorry for the awkwardness."

"Oh!" Shauna said. "Are you gonna do me now?"

"Of course!" John said. "Shauna, based on my assumptions, you are a naturally social girl with a kind heart at your core. However, you have the slightest of insecurities about meeting new people, mainly revolving around rejection. As such, you have flocked to Melissa, a more introverted person as a support of sorts as you believe that she will be loyal to you no matter what."

"Wow!" Shauna exclaimed, causing Cammy to move somewhat. "How do you do that? Are you sure you're not actually the ETL Psychologist?"

"Positive," John said. "Psychology is more about thought processes and mental disorders. I'm all about inferring from emotions. I suppose I could be a good counsellor if I put my mind to it though..."

"Well, whatever," Melissa said. "That talent of yours sure is something. Nice meeting you."

"Likewise," John said. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to go check out the dorms, and find where I'm staying."

"But they haven't done the welcoming ceremony yet!" Shauna said.

"Take a look at the podium on the stage," John said. "You'll see that we have plenty of time to spare before then."

Before Shauna could ask what John had meant, he had already walked away, heading out of the main doors.

"Might as well see what he was on about," Melissa said, taking the lead. Shauna followed her as they walked past a few students, and up to the podium. Melissa paused in front of the podium, seeing a note taped onto it.

_Attention students of Sun's Joy Academy. In accordance with tradition, you will all be given a two-day period to become familiar with your new home, and to become acquainted with your peers before the welcoming ceremony. Free reign of the campus will be given at this time, so make yourselves at home!_

Melissa raised an eyebrow at this. She certainly wasn't expecting that, but the logic behind it made perfect sense. With the two-day inauguration period, the students would really get to know the academy, and would be able to comfortably begin their studies. Once again Melissa found herself respecting the academy more and more.

"Well, that's a little dumb," Shauna said. "My acceptance letter said that the welcome ceremony would begin shortly after my arrival."

"Oh well," Melissa said. "It doesn't really matter, does it? It just means we get more time to become familiar with everything like it says."

"I suppose you're right," Shauna said. "And besides, that way I'll be on good terms with everyone before the semester even begins!" Melissa smiled at Shauna, and let out a light laugh. This was truly the best place she had been to in years.

Melissa turned around, and saw another student walking up to the pair. She was a tall girl, who was dressed in an immaculate grey suit and tie. In her hand was a briefcase. Melissa also noted that the girl had shoulder-length chocolate brown hair that really set off her appearance.

"Hello there!" she said.

"Hi!" Shauna replied, seeing the girl.

"You two must be the ETL Toy Maker and Novelist, right?" she asked.

"That's right," Melissa said. "I'm the Novelist, and Shauna here's the Toy Maker."

"Excellent!" the girl replied. "I tend to have a hunch for identifying people."

"Speaking of which," Shauna said. "Who are you?"

"Oh, I must have forgotten to introduce myself!" the girl said. "I'm Marian, the ETL Lawyer."

"Nice to meet you," Melissa said. As she spoke, Marian took her hand, shaking it firmly.

"Likewise," Marian said. "It's a shame about the postponing of the welcoming ceremony though, isn't it?"

"I wouldn't say so," Melissa said. "It's enough time for us to form social bonds and learn the layout of the campus. That way we will all be able to start our studies without any distractions."

"True, true," Marian said. "It's just that I've been waiting so long for this day to finally arrive, and finding out I have two more days until it really begins is somewhat disappointing. But anyway, how are you girls finding the academy so far?"

"It's great!" Shauna replied. "Well, I haven't seen anything except for the main entrance, and I've only talked to a couple of students, but it's the best place I've ever seen!"

"I have to agree with you there," Marian said, smiling. Her briefcase swayed by her side.

"Hey, what's in the case?" Shauna said. "If you don't mind me asking, that is."

"Oh, here!" Marian said. "Let's sit down at one of the seats, and I'll show you!"

Melissa and Shauna followed Marian to one of the seats. They sat down next to her, and watched as she opened up the briefcase, revealing several files.

"What are these?" Melissa asked.

"Just what I call my portfolio," Marian said. "It's a compilation of my favourite court cases I've taken part in, as well as my information sheets on all of you guys."

"You sure did your research then," Shauna said, taking her own file from the briefcase. "You probably know the most about all of us at the moment!"

"Probably," Marian said. "But of course there's the ETL Empathic. He'd probably be able to pin you down to a T within two minutes of observation."

"You're not far from the truth there," Shauna said.

"Really?" Marian asked.

"Yeah!" Shauna said. "He gave both me and Melissa a crazy accurate analysis of our personalities!"

"Sounds about right," Marian said. "Apparently he got into this academy because he managed to solve the case of a serial killer. You've heard of Sunshine Sally right?"

"The girl that carved a sun pattern into her victims, correct?" Shauna said.

"The very same," Marian confirmed. "The ETL Empathic managed to perfectly see through her eyes, and predicted her next target, along with the time and location. The guy's a genius. And a neat little piece of information: I was the one who proved she was guilty of the murders." Melissa found herself realising that perhaps John wasn't as average as she had thought.

"So you two know each other?" she said.

"Sort of," Marian said. "We worked together on a few more cases, but then we kind of drifted apart after the major cases died down. Today's the first time I've seen him in ages."

"Well isn't that a good coincidence!" Shauna said. "At least you've come here already knowing someone."

"I suppose," Marian said. She took Shauna's file back, and placed it in the briefcase, closing it. "Anyway, I've spent enough time talking. I'm going to go put this briefcase of mine in my dorm room."

"All right then," Melissa said. She offered a smile. "See you around."

"Yeah," Marian said. She stood up from her seat, and then she was gone.

Melissa looked over at Shauna, who was smoothing over Cammy's suit.

"Hey," she said. "Is there anyone we haven't spoken to in here yet?"

"I think there are a couple more people," Shauna said. "I suppose everyone else already arrived and they're now exploring the campus, which I can't wait to do."

"Me neither," Melissa said.

"I reckon this place'll feel like home in no time," Shauna said with a smile as she stood up from her seat. "Anyway, let's go meet the others!"

Melissa and Shauna walked through the hall together, towards the stage where a couple of students still stood. The first they approached was a boy around Melissa's height with close-cropped black hair and grey eyes. He was wearing a red hoodie with a black and white checked scarf, a pair of jeans, and a pair of black boots. Melissa also noticed that he had a pair of golden stud earrings in.

"Hey!" Shauna said, approaching the boy.

"Uh, hi," he said. He offered a friendly smile to the two girls. "Who are you?"

"I'm Shauna!" Shauna said. "The ETL Toy Maker!"

"And your friend?"

"I'm Melissa," Melissa said. "I'm the ETL Novelist."

"Ah, cool," he said, adjusting his scarf. "I'm Andrew: ETL Racer."

"Like race-cars and stuff?" Shauna asked.

Andrew smiled. "Exactly like that. I have twenty five golden trophies to my name, so it's safe to say I'm good at it."

"Well," Melissa said. "You sure aren't what I expected."

"What do you mean?" Andrew asked.

"I was expecting someone a little more abrasive and dynamic," Melissa said. "Not someone like you."

"Well, I like to break expectations," Andrew said, chuckling.

"Yeah," Melissa said. "Sorry if I offended you."

"None taken!"Andrew said. "Anyway, can you believe we get two days before we begin our studies? It's brilliant!"

"I wasn't expecting it," Melissa said. "So what will you be doing over the following two days?"

"Oh, you know," Andrew said. "I'll be checking out all the facilities, and I'll be getting to know as many people as possible."

"That's pretty similar to what we have planned," Melissa said. "I guess quite a few of us will be taking the opportunity to get to know everything and everyone."

"It's a wise choice," Andrew said. "It really cuts down on uncertainties about stuff."

"That it does," Melissa said. "Hopefully you find someone you'll get along with."

"I hope so," Andrew said. "But I'm just worried about my famed status putting people off."

"Uh, no offence," Shauna said. "But we're all pretty much of celebrity status here anyway."

"Haha, true," Andrew said. "I didn't mean to sound that stuck-up, though." He then looked past the two girls. "Hey, is he gone yet?"

"Who?" Shauna asked.

"The ETL Reporter," Andrew said with a groan. "He provided coverage for one of my big races a couple years back, and he's been trying to interview me all morning."

"Yeah, we've met the guy," Shauna said. "He's not that bad, actually!"

"He's a little up-front," Melissa said. "But really, I think he just wants to make this as memorable as possible."

"Huh," Andrew said. "I just assumed he was like a mad paparazzi type. I guess I'll try to talk to him then."

"If you get the chance," Shauna said. "He's literally trying to interview everyone for this documentary thing he's doing throughout the year."

"Sounds fun, actually," Andrew said. "Perhaps I'll check it out. See you girls later!" He then walked away from the girls, heading towards the main doors. Most of the students were, actually, since they had very little reason to hang around.

Shauna watched as Andrew joined a small crowd of students, leaving the hall.

"I guess we should leave, too," she told Melissa. "We might as well check out the other places on campus."

"Yeah, I guess," Melissa said. "Let's go then." The two of them began to walk across the hall, heading towards the doors. But before they made it, someone bumped into them from behind. Melissa turned around to see a boy standing there.

"I'm sorry about that," he said. He was taller than Melissa, and had spiked-up dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. He wore a white polo shirt under an orange hoodie that was partially zipped up, a pair of camouflage-style combat pants, and a pair of boots. There was a pair of headphones resting around his neck, the wire plugged into a PDA in his hand.

"Is that your ElectroID?" Shauna asked, motioning to it.

"Not at all," he said. "This is my personal PDA. Never leave home without it."

"That's cool," Shauna said. "So where's your ElectroID?"

"In my dorm room," he said. "I don't really need it; the necessary software on the thing's been transferred to this baby right here." Shauna looked at him, impressed. He gave a bashful smile. "And who are you two?"

"I'm Shauna: ETL Toy Maker," Shauna said.

"Melissa: ETL Novelist," Melissa said.

"Cool," he said. "I'm Dirk: ETL Hacker."

"Interesting ETL," Melissa said. "Not something you'd normally advocate for an esteemed academy."

"Well, I think we can gather everything about this place is unorthodox as hell," Dirk replied smoothly. He pressed a few more buttons on his PDA, sighing. "Great."

"What?" Shauna asked.

"There's no internet," Dirk said. "I've been trying all day, but there just doesn't seem to be any Wi-Fi signal anywhere."

"Strange," Melissa said. "Perhaps it's taking a while to set it all up."

"I hope that's all," Dirk said. "Because I feel isolated without constant internet connection."

"I guess you can't do much hacking if you can't gain access to the internet," Shauna said.

"Yeah," Dirk said. He shrugged. "Hopefully when lessons begin we'll get the internet back."

"Why not just ask someone about it?" Shauna suggested.

"I've tried," Dirk said, shaking his head. "There doesn't seem to be anyone on campus except for us ETLs."

"Really?" Melissa said. "That's odd."

"Probably so we can get along without having to worry about their interference or something stupid," Dirk said.

"In that case, perhaps cutting off the Wi-Fi was a deliberate movement?" Melissa said.

"What makes you think that?" Dirk asked.

"Well, if they want us all to get to know each other, they'll want to eliminate as many distractions as possible," Melissa explained. "Hence the lack of internet. It'll probably be all fine after the welcoming ceremony, though."

"Yeah, hopefully," Dirk said. "It's kind of a dumb move, forcing us to all interact. You know, I bet that there's at least one person here with crippling anxiety that's withering away without the escape of the internet."

"And you're not?" Melissa said.

"Just pissed off," Dirk said. "I was just screwing around with the US military servers, making the files do some funny crap like displaying 'My true love is the president's ding-a-ling.' That sort of stuff."

"You do know that's enough to land you in serious trouble, right?" Melissa said, shocked by Dirk's nature.

"Well, we're not exactly in the US, are we?" Dirk said with a light chuckle. "The complications to extradite me there wouldn't be worth it. And besides, I'm technically a minor, so what can they really do?"

"They could stick you in a young offenders' or something," Melissa said.

"I doubt it," Dirk said. "They owe me after I gave them a file-dump from the Middle Eastern government servers to prevent a terrorist attack."

"What?" Melissa exclaimed.

"Turns out a few of our friends out there are in on the whole Despair organisation," Dirk said. "Probably offered enough money to crawl out of the debt holes they've fallen into. Anyway, turned out they were planning to offer the Despair group their nuclear weapons to bring the US to its knees or something." He let out a small laugh. "Probably to make the damn country feel true despair or whatever BS that organisation spouts."

"You sure are something, you know?" Melissa said.

"I established that myself some time ago," Dirk said.

"Yes you did," Melissa said.

"Anyway," Dirk said. "They'd better put up the Wi-Fi before the welcoming ceremony. There's something I have to do."

"What?" Melissa asked, already dreading the answer.

"Just get back at them for denying me internet access for two freaking days," Dirk said. "I'm planning on finding their crappy Powerpoint that they no doubt made in advance, and changing the text to eye-bleeding Comic Sans in the most god-awful colours imaginable. Oh, and whatever 'inspirational' song they've got lined up for us to endure? I've got something way better." A mischievous smile crossed Dirk's face, and he unplugged his headphones from the PDA, causing a song to explode from the speakers.

_Pon pon wei wei wei_

_Pon pon wei pon wei pon pon_

_Wei wei pon pon pon_

_Wei wei pon wei pon wei wei_

Melissa groaned instantly. "That song, really?"

"Yeah," Dirk said. "See how they like that, huh?"

"For the love of god, please turn it off," Melissa said as the song looped into the next verse.

"I thought you'd never ask." Dirk quickly plugged the headphones in again, and the song vanished from Melissa's ears.

"I thought it was pretty cool!" Shauna said. She began to hum the tune, swaying to and fro. Melissa rolled her eyes at her friend, and... wait. A smile spread across Melissa's face as she realised that she had come to see Shauna as a friend.

"Well, I can appreciate it ironically," Dirk said. "But even then, only if it's being used as a weapon against someone else."

"Hey," Melissa said. "If you have this attitude towards Sun's Joy, then why did you come here?"

"Believe me, I had no intention," Dirk said. "I was fine staying home, when suddenly this helicopter lands in my drive, no joke. And then I sort of had no choice but to come."

"Well, it's not as if you're going to regret it," Melissa said. "Once you graduate from here, you're practically guaranteed the best positions in life."

"True," Dirk said. "But I'd have rather done it via online classes."

"And miss out on the atmosphere?" Melissa said.

"Yeah," Dirk said. "Being around people is not really my thing, and this whole lack of internet is clearly the most impressive display."

"Oh, lighten up," Shauna said. "It'll be fun!"

"As fun as a bunch of crazy super talented teens can get," Dirk said dryly. "I mean, seriously. Half of these guys are nuts as hell."

"And you're not?" Melissa said tauntingly.

"Damn it," Dirk said. "I should really learn to not diss things I'm a part of."

"Good luck with that," Melissa said. "Just be thankful you haven't had the ETL Empathic probe your personality yet."

"I'll pass," Dirk said. Melissa couldn't help but laugh. "Hey, there's nothing funny coming from my mouth."

"Whatever," Melissa said, calming herself. "You seem like a cool guy, Dirk."

"Thanks," Dirk said. A smile crossed his face.

"Don't mention it," Melissa said.

"Anyway," Dirk said. "Since I've got nothing better to do, how about we go and check out the campus?"

"That sounds like a great idea!" Shauna said. She smiled at Melissa and Dirk. "Come on then, let's go!"

Dirk took the lead, and Melissa walked beside Shauna as they walked through the doors, leaving the hall behind for the moment. And as they headed down the hallway, Melissa realised just what she was going to write for the novel she was planning to write: a large, all-encompassing story, involving the students of Sun's Joy Academy. It would be the perfect homage to her new home, and her new friends. But for now, the story would have to wait; Melissa saw that Shauna and Dirk were walking ahead of her, and she quickly hurried after them. Before anything else, she had the rest of the campus to see, and more friends to make.


	3. Budding Friendships

**A/N: Hey. Here's the next chapter, in which we meet the second half of the ETLs and explore even more of the academy. We also see the official ElectroID profiles for the students to discover even more about them. As before, hopefully it isn't too confusing at this point, but even if it is, in the coming chapters, as the cast thins, everyone's personalities will really shine. :)**

* * *

Charlie walked down the hallway, her ElectroID in hand. The skylight above her was allowing sunlight down, lighting up her mousy brown hair. She could feel it on her head, and forced herself to feel less self-conscious. This morning, she had tried to select a decent outfit for today, but now she wasn't sure if it was really that good. The outfit in question consisted of a light green summer dress under an open white cardigan with white tights and black pumps. It was subtle, and didn't really draw attention to her, but Charlie was also worried she was making an understatement. The awkward crippling shyness of the past was supposed to have been buried, but after seeing the sign in the hall that there were two days until the welcoming ceremony, Charlie left before anyone could even talk to her.

And now, she was trying to find her dorm room, whilst trying to ignore the burning shame inside her. She was better than that. She should have been better than that. For crying out loud, she was the ETL Gardener! In no way was she the same girl she was before now: Sun's Joy was meant to be a whole new start. Yet even now, as these thoughts bounced through Charlie's head, she did not look back towards the hall. She couldn't bear to face her fellow students. From searching the forum boards online Charlie had seen the types of ETLs here, all of which proceeded to make her own talent seem worthless. Really, how could she compete with the likes of a computer hacker or an abstract artist? She couldn't.

A sigh escaped from Charlie's lips. In no was was this how she was expecting to spend her first day in the most esteemed of academies. When the helicopter first landed, Charlie's initial thought was that she'd be thrown into classes the moment she arrived, and wouldn't have time to worry about her social shortcomings. But after finding the notice that they had a two day period to become familiar with the campus, Charlie had even thought that she could perhaps try and befriend someone. And then the other ETLs began to arrive, thoroughly intimidating her. So she had left the hall without talking to a single soul. Very few actually noticed her there anyway.

The narrow hallway suddenly opened up, and Charlie looked around to see doors lining the walls. She walked over to the one closest to her right, and inspected it. It was a light cream colour, blending in with the wall. In the middle of the door was a sign with a blown up pixel image of someone. Beneath it there was a caption that read 'NAOMI FENNE: ETL SKATER'. Charlie looked closer at the image, but in no way could see any resemblance to the hyper bubbly girl down in the hall. However, at least this meant that she had found the dorm rooms. The only thing that bothered Charlie about this whole set-up was that the boys and girls had their rooms next to each other. But at the very least, everyone had their own room, so there was not going to be any room sharing, which was only good news to Charlie. She no longer had to worry about having to share her living space with a stranger that would most likely end up giving her a panic attack by merely engaging in conversation with her.

But anyway, this room did not happen to be Charlie's, and she quickly turned away from the door, continuing down the hallway. Luckily, she soon found her room: the fourth door on the left. She walked up to it, and saw another blown up pixel image. This time, it was of herself. She looked at the caption which read 'CHARLOTTE GRATH: ETL GARDENER' and sighed. Of course they had to use her embarrassing full name. Charlie was certain that once the semester actually began she'd speak to someone about changing the sign on her door; she hated being called Charlotte. Mostly it was because it stemmed from being the name exclusively used by her overbearing mother when scolding her during her childhood, and memories of being the new kid in school, when the teacher would read out Charlie's full name. And of course, Charlie did not bother to correct most of her old teachers on this as she found the feat of speaking to them nigh-impossible. And here she was supposed to escape all that.

Charlie grabbed the door handle, and pulled on it. The door did not budge. She stepped back from the door, and saw a small rectangular slot underneath the handle. It read 'Place ElectroID here'. Of course; how did Charlie forget that the ElectroID was the key to her room? Ignoring the feeling of embarrassment, Charlie placed the ElectroID in the slot.

_Bleep-bleep!_

The sound of a lock being turned reached Charlie's ears once the bleeping had stopped. She took her ElectroID out of the slot, and gripped the door handle, pushing the door open. Charlie quickly stepped inside her room, closing the door behind her.

Charlie's room consisted of a bed against the wall to her right made with white bedsheets, a desk and a closet to her left, a large window in front of her that offered a view of the palm trees outside, and several plants on the windowsill. She walked towards the window, and found another door next to the closet. It was half-open, and Charlie quickly opened it all the way, taking in the contents. It was the bathroom. In no way was it some sort of luxury suite, but it was pretty good. There was a sink and mirror on one side of the room, a toilet against the far wall, and a shower on the other side. It was also pretty spacious compared to what Charlie was used to. But she didn't have any real need to be in here, so she quickly stepped out, and returned to her main room.

Upon returning to the room, Charlie quickly noticed something on her bed: several suitcases. She breathed a sigh of relief: they had kept to their word, and had delivered her luggage in advance. Charlie walked over to the bed, and grabbed a small, pink suitcase, opening it up. Inside was her laptop, along with the charger and a few books. Charlie grabbed the laptop and charger, and carried them across the room onto the desk. She found a plug socket beside the desk, and plugged the charger in, attaching it to her laptop. She then sat down on the chair in front of the desk and opened up her laptop, turning it on. It took a few seconds, but the computer soon booted up.

Charlie wasted no time in opening the internet browser; she had to check up on her gardening blog. She wasn't the most internet-savvy girl, but she was still good enough to post several extensive online tutorials for people to follow. And it had been successful; Charlie had nearly two million subscribers to her blog, which had in turn partly secured her place at Sun's Joy. However, as these thoughts rushed through Charlie's head, she looked at the screen to see something: there was no internet signal.

A cold chill of anxiety ran through Charlie. The internet was like a lifeline for her; her world revolved around it. And to not have it was to cut Charlie off from everything she was comfortable with. She hit the refresh button, hoping to get somewhere, but the page continued to display an error message. But as this showed, Charlie noticed a pop-up on her menu bar: it was alerting her to how she was not connected to a network. Perhaps that was it: all Charlie would have to do would be to connect to the academy's Wi-Fi and her problems would be solved. She clicked on the button, and was directed to a list of available networks. Currently, there was only one, with the cryptic name of 'MONOKUMA_NET01'. It had to be the academy's network, though, despite the odd name. Charlie clicked on it, but another message came up: it was password protected.

Charlie let out a sigh, and sunk her head into her arms. This was just perfect; she was without the internet. She closed the laptop, since there was no reason to keep it open. Perhaps she could find someone and ask them to help her with setting up the network, but that was assuming that there were people other than the students on campus, which didn't seem to be the case.

However, before Charlie could worry about the issue any further, the sound of someone knocking on her door caught her attention. A rush of anxiety washed over her as the knocking continued. Part of her willed for whoever was on the other side of the door to just go away and leave her alone, but another part of Charlie recognised that this was a prime opportunity to try and make some friends. They wouldn't know about her anxieties. She could start over. She could leave her timid life behind. This was the decision that Charlie made as she walked across her room to the door, opening it.

"Hi!" Charlie looked to see two people standing in front of the door. The first was a stocky girl with frizzy brown hair that fell to her shoulders. A light pink baseball cap rested on her head, and she wore a white tank top, a pair of jeans, and boots.

"Hello," Charlie said. "Who are you?" Inwardly she wanted to curl up for such an awful first impression, but she still stood tall.

"I'm Nina," the girl responded. "ETL Video Game Designer." She smiled widely at Charlie. "And may I ask the same question?"

"Okay," Charlie said. "I'm Charlie, and I'm the ETL Gardener." Nina immediately took Charlie's hand, shaking it.

"Nice to meet you, Charlie!" Nina said. "I'm just sort of making the rounds through the dorm rooms to meet my fellow ETLs."

"That's a great idea," Charlie said.

"Glad you think so," Nina said with a smile. "You see, you're actually the first person I've spoken to since coming up with this plan, so your approval means the world to me!"

"And who's that with you?" Charlie asked. She pointed to the other figure.

"Oh, I'm Joel," he said. "ETL Lifeguard, at your service." Joel was a tall boy with sandy hair. He had alert brown eyes, and wore a grey tank top underneath an unbuttoned sky blue shirt, a pair of board shorts, and flip-flops. He extended his hand. Charlie took it, shaking it gently. His grip was firm, she noted.

"A pleasure to meet the both of you," she said.

"Same," Joel replied.

"Joel here's a pretty cool guy," Nina said. "I'm sure you remember that freak whirlpool off the west coast a few months back?"

"Oh yea," Charlie said. "That was all over the news, wasn't it?"

"Well," Nina said. "Out of the eighty survivors, Joel saved seventy five of them."

Charlie's eyes widened. "Really?"

"Come on, Nina," Joel said. "It's no big deal."

"He's a little too modest for his own good," Nina said. She laughed at her own statement.

"Really, Nina's just dragging me along for her tour of the campus," Joel explained. "I heard there was a pool, and just want to find it really."

"I imagine that the pool here will be excellent," Nina said. "I mean, the IT room? To die for!"

"So it has the right stuff for your work?" Joel said.

"Yep," Nina replied. "Every program I need is there."

"Program?" Charlie asked.

"Oh yeah!" Nina said. "I never did explain why I earned my ETL title!"

"She's responsible for creating a whole plethora of video games," Joel said. "Her current fame comes from the reality simulation game Carefree Starlight."

"What's that?" Charlie asked.

"Let me explain!" Nina stated proudly. "Carefree Starlight is a game in which you create your own character and explore the world around you. And depending on the choices you make and the people you talk to, the game can go in hundreds of different directions, from romance to sci-fi!"

"Wow," Charlie said. "That sounds amazing."

"In fact," Nina said. She reached into her pocket, pulling out what appeared to be a Nintendo 3DS. "I have the 3DS version with me her!" Nina handed Charlie the console. "Have it!"

"Really?" Charlie said. "I mean, these things are awfully expensive..."

"Consider it a friendship token," Nina said with a smile.

"Well, thank you," Charlie said. She placed the console in her cardigan pocket.

"Anyway, enough of that," Nina said. "Let's get exploring the campus!"

Charlie followed Nina and Joel as they walked down the dorm hallway. At the end of the hall was an elevator, which Charlie had used to get up to this floor in the first place. Nina pressed the button on the wall, and the silver door slid open, allowing for the trio to step inside. Once they were all in, Nina selected the button that said 'GROUND FLOOR'.

The elevator began to smoothly descend, a soft hum sounding from somewhere. Charlie looked up at the roof of the small space, and saw a security camera. It made sense, considering that this was such an esteemed academy, but the thought of potentially being watched made Charlie uncomfortable. She looked away, and to the elevator door. As it opened, Charlie saw someone standing on the other side, appearing to be waiting patiently for the elevator.

"Oh, hello," Charlie said as the three of them stepped out.

"Hi," the other person said. "Who are you three?"

"I'm Charlie: ETL Gardener," she said.

"I'm Nina: ETL Video Game Designer," Nina added. She motioned to Joel. "He's Joel: the ETL Lifeguard."

"I'm Ella," she said. "ETL Sound Engineer." Ella was a petite girl with tanned skin. She had black hair done in a pixie cut, and wore a mocha t-shirt with the words _Turn the Music Up, Tune the World Out _written on it in a striking black font. The rest of her outfit consisted of a pair of knee-length beige shorts, and a pair of high black boots. "And if you don't mind me asking, does this elevator go up to the dorm rooms?"

"Yes," Nina said.

"Oh, good," Ella said. "My ElectroID says it does, but I was just double checking."

"Hey, wait a sec," Joel said. "Haven't I seen you somewhere?"

"What do you mean?" Ella asked.

"I swear you were in some Hollywood interview a while back," Joel said.

"Oh yeah," Ella said. "I'm the leading composer for the blockbuster success Poisoned Rainbow. Did the interview talk about releasing the tracks on iTunes before the movie actually came out?"

"Sounds about right," Joel said.

"It should do," Ella replied. She smiled knowingly. "Literally five minutes after that interview I received my acceptance letter for Sun's Joy. I remember that day in great detail."

"That's awesome!" Nina said. "In fact, I think I know what we should watch if we were to ever do an ETL Movie Night."

Ella couldn't help but smile. "Of course, I'd advise watching it for more than just the soundtrack. The story's unlike anything I've seen before, and I have to tip my hat to the main actor for his stunning performance. To be honest I'm incredibly surprised that he didn't make it here as the ETL Actor."

"Is he our age?" Charlie asked.

"Yes," Ella said. "His birthday is precisely a month before mine, actually."

"When's that?" Nina asked.

"June fifth," Ella replied. "Why?"

"Just curious," Nina said with a shrug. "And also I now know when to begin preparing for a surprise birthday party for you." She laughed loudly.

"I'm not really the party type," Ella said.

"Me neither," Nina replied. "I'm actually more inclined to become so engrossed in working on a game that I can end up forgetting everything. I even ended up missing my fifteenth birthday because I was too busy working on a Pokémon fan-game."

"Wow," Ella said. "I've never done something like that."

"I guess I just get too passionate about what I do," Nina said. "Not that it's a bad thing."

"Yeah," Ella said. She looked down at her wristwatch. "Anyway, I don't want to sound rude, but it's already past noon and I still haven't checked out my room." She smiled bashfully. "Mostly I just want to make sure all my stuff has been sent over okay."

"All right then," Nina said. She smiled as Ella walked into the elevator. "See you around!"

"You too," Ella said. And then the elevator shut and she was gone.

"She seemed nice," Nina said to Joel and Charlie.

"Yeah," Joel said. "I still can't believe we're surrounded by such talented people."

"Uh, Joel," Nina said. She nudged his shoulder. "You're an ETL as well."

"Yeah," Joel said. "But these people are like celebrities."

"It gets better, you know," Nina said. "According to the forums, we have people like best-selling authors, artists, and even fashion designers attending. Prepare to be starstruck."

Joel laughed. "Sorry. Before now I came from a small coastal town. I'm not used to this sort of lifestyle."

"Get used to it quickly," Nina said. "You're part of it."

"Um, guys," Charlie said. "Where are we heading first?"

"Oh yeah!" Nina said. "Well, I came in from the southern entrance, so you want to explore the northern side of the campus?"

"Okay then," Charlie said. "I think the exit's at the end of this hallway."

"Yeah," Joel said. "I remember since I came in from that way. I didn't really check anything out though."

"All right then," Nina said. "Let's go see what's in store!"

As Nina led the way, Charlie pulled out her ElectroID. She opened up the menu, and selected the option titled 'Available Facilities'. She began to read through them as they walked through the large double doors that led to the northern section of the campus.

**Sun's Joy Academy – Facilities.**

**At Sun's Joy we pride ourselves in providing facilities to accommodate students of every Enhanced Talent Level. The campus will always be expanding every year to provide even more for the next class of Enhanced Talent Levels.**

**For the first year, these are the current available facilities.**

**NORTHERN HALF:**

**Skate Park**

**Film Studio**

**Race Track**

**Dance Hall**

**CENTRAL BUILDING:**

**Wood Workshop**

**IT Room**

**Courtroom**

**Art Studio**

**SOUTHERN HALF:**

**Swimming Pool**

**Library**

**Garden**

**Textile Building**

**In addition to this, there are several smaller study buildings for students to utilise as quiet areas of private study, or to host extracurricular activities.**

Charlie looked through all of this with a sense of awe. This place sure had been ready for their arrival. She looked ahead to Nina and Joel who were walking down the path. There was a large fountain in the middle of the path, shining in the afternoon sunlight. The two had stopped in front of the fountain, admiring.

"Hey, guys," Charlie said, running up to them.

"Yeah?" Nina said. She and Joel were sat on the edge of the fountain.

"I checked the ElectroID," Charlie said. "According to this, there's a skate park, race track, dance hall, and film studio on the northern side of the campus."

"Really?" Nina said. Her eyes lit up. "That's awesome!"

"This place really caters to us, huh?" Joel said. He trailed a hand in the water of the fountain, getting his shirtsleeve wet in the process. He soon took his hand out, and rolled the sleeves up.

"Yeah," Charlie said. "I can't wait to see the garden on the southern side myself."

"So where to first?" Joel asked Nina, who seemed to be acting as the leader for the group.

"Hmm..." Nina said. "How about the dance hall?"

"Fine by me," Joel said. "You okay with this Charlie?"

"Yes, I'm okay with it," Charlie replied.

"That's great!" Nina said. She hopped off the fountain, and began to walk along the path. "Let's go!"

The three of them continued to walk down the path, heading away from the main building. A light summer breeze blew in the air, carrying the scent of the ocean with it. At times it felt more like a vacation resort than a school. But, Charlie supposed, that was part of the charm.

They soon found the dance hall in the north-west edge of the campus. It was a large building made up of classical brickwork. Several windows reflected the sunlight, and a large pair of double doors made up the entrance. As they drew closer, the sound of pounding pop music reached their ears. Charlie idly noted that it was the current chart-topper.

"I love this song!" Nina said. "Fun fact by the way: the boss battle theme in this RPG I'm working on is actually based on this!"

"You create the soundtracks as well?" Joel asked, astounded.

"Well, yeah," Nina scoffed. "I'm a one-woman video game team. The best in the world."

"You certainly are," Charlie said.

"But enough about me," Nina said. She pushed open the double doors. "Let's go find the source of this music!"

The doors led to a small hallway lined with lockers and benches. All of the lockers were open, except for one, and a backpack was laying on the ground in front of it. Charlie noticed that there was a Hello Kitty print on it. At the end of the hallway was a wooden door.

"Whoever owns that bag's probably in there," Joel said.

"Should we go in?" Charlie asked.

"Sure," Nina said. "I guess if we're interrupting then we'll just leave and head back some other time."

"Yeah," Joel said as Nina walked past him. She pushed open the door, and she stepped through. Joel followed suit, and Charlie made up the rear end. Once she was inside, Charlie's jaw dropped in awe. The dance hall itself was larger than the gym in the main building, with a large stage at the far side. There was an open wooden floor, and the walls were lined with bars and mirrors. But none of this was what she was noticing: Charlie was transfixed by the figure on the stage.

All three of them watched in awe as the figure performed perfect ballet moves to the pounding. The contrast was striking and captivating at the same time. The music began to fade out towards the end, and the dancer suddenly performed a perfect pirouette off of the stage, landing gracefully on the ground. The music cut out. Nina began to clap.

"Whoo!" she said. "That was amazing!"

"Oh," the dancer said. "I didn't know I had attracted an audience."

"You deserve one," Joel said. "Those moves were sublime."

"You really think so?" the dancer replied. "It was just an improv routine."

"Wow," Charlie said. "You wouldn't think that from watching you."

"Thanks guys," the dancer said. "You're too kind. And may I ask as to the identities of my loving audience?"

"Sure," Nina said. "I'm Nina: ETL Video Game Designer. He's Joel: ETL Lifeguard, and she's Charlie: ETL Gardener."

"Nice to meet you all," the dancer said. "I'm Chelsea: ETL Ballerina." Chelsea was a large girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. She was currently wearing a red tank-top with a white skirt along with a pair of pumps. Clearly this was her dance outfit.

"I guessed so," Nina said. "I don't think anyone else can come close to your abilities."

Chelsea blushed. "You all are too kind," she said. "I'm not that good, you know? Having all this extra weight doesn't help either."

"What are you talking about?" Nina said. "You're gorgeous, Chelsea, and before you let any negativity seep in, know this: you are an ETL. You are one of only sixteen people in the world with that title. You should be proud of yourself for this achievement."

"Well, thanks," Chelsea said. "But I'm not too bothered about this: I mean, I've worked my routines all around it." She suddenly walked past them. "I'll be with you guys in one second: I'm just going to change out of this outfit."

"Okay then," Nina said. She then turned to Joel and Charlie. "Oh, wow. She dances like no other!"

"Someone's a little starstruck," Joel teased.

"Oh shut up," Nina said. "I just really like her dancing, okay?"

"I know," Charlie said. "I remember seeing her in the international championships last year with that solo rendition of Swan Lake: I didn't know it was possible, but she pulled it off brilliantly."

"That's an ETL for you," Nina said.

The conversation died down naturally for a few moments before Chelsea returned to the dance hall wearing her regular outfit, which consisted of a white shirt under a black hoodie, a pair of black sweatpants, a pair of blue running shoes, and her backpack. She had also put a pale pink headband in as well, and two large golden hoop earrings adorned her ears.

"I'm ready," she said.

"You're going to join us?" Nina asked. "That's great!"

"So how much of the campus have you explored so far?" Chelsea asked.

"We decided on doing a tour of the northern section," Nina said. "This is our first stop."

"I've seen a little of the southern section," Chelsea said. "But I had to leave before the ETL Reporter roped me into a follow-up interview."

"What?" Charlie asked.

"You haven't seen him yet?" Chelsea said. "He's trying to make some kind of documentary of our time here, which consists of interviewing every last ETL. His goal is to interview us all at least once before the introductory period is over."

"He sure sounds devoted," Nina said. "And that sounds pretty interesting as well; I'll be sure to get interviewed when I see him."

"I've already given mine," Joel said. "He's pretty upbeat and an all-around likeable guy. He's really passionate about this project of his."

"I don't know if I want to be on camera..." Charlie said.

"It's not that bad," Nina said. "You get used to it after a while; I know since there are so many interviews required when you're the leading game designer."

"My shows are also filmed on live television," Chelsea said. "I've been surrounded by cameras for as long as I can remember."

"I knew you were all practically celebrities," Joel said, laughing.

"And what of it?" Chelsea said. "We're all in this academy together, after all. We should ignore all that celebrity stuff and just see each other as fellow students."

"Yeah," Joel said.

"Anyway," Nina said. "This has been nice, but we still have our campus tour to do. Where to next?"

"Since we're on the northern section," Chelsea said. "I wouldn't mind seeing the race track."

"Why?" Charlie asked.

"One of my hobbies happens to be watching that kind of stuff in my spare time," Chelsea explained. "I'm actually working on a dance routine that explores the whole concept."

"Really?" Charlie said. "That's amazing."

"And you are the only person that managed to completely cultivate a two-square mile flower garden with no help what-so-ever," Chelsea countered. "Don't sell yourself short."

Charlie smiled. "I just don't see myself as that good, really," she explained. "I mean, all of you have done things like becoming celebrities or life-savers, and all I can do is make plants grow."

"A green thumb is nothing to be sniffed at," Chelsea said. "Heaven knows I don't even have the patience to grow roses in my own living room!"

"Oh," Charlie said. "That's because you're cutting the plant off from a sufficient air supply, not to mention that if the temperatures of an average house are unregulated, it can be detrimental to the plant's hydration by cutting it off from the natural water vapours, and that if the plant is not close to a windowsill, then it will have to rely on a light bulb, which does not contain enough nutrients to allow it to healthily photosynthesise. The best thing is to either keep the plant on the windowsill outside of the window, or to keep the house well-ventilated with plenty of sunlight."

"Whoa," Nina said. "Charlie, you really are like a plant genius!"

"Yeah," Chelsea added. "If that isn't ETL material then I don't know what is."

"Thank you," Charlie said. "But really, that's just basic textbook botanical knowledge. Any old person could learn that."

"But any old person couldn't recite it like their favourite song," Joel said.

"I know," Charlie said. "I guess maybe I'm not that useless."

"That's the truth right there," Nina said. "Now, onward to the race track!"

Nina led the way once again as they left the dance hall, returning outside. They walked along the path, heading east towards where the racetrack was. They could see it even from just outside of the dance hall: it was a large, dome-like building with a checked flag flying high in the sky in front of it. In fact, Charlie thought that they looked more like Olympic venues than school facilities. Chelsea was staring in awe at the building as well, so absorbed that she didn't notice the person she just walked into.

"Hey!" the person said. "You know, you could watch where you're going."

"Oh, sorry!" Chelsea said. "It was an accident!"

"It's fine," the person replied. "Just pay more attention to your surroundings next time, would you?"

"Okay then," Chelsea said. "By the way, since everyone seems to be doing introductions, I suppose we should do it as well. I'm Chelsea: ETL Ballerina."

"All right then," the person said. "I'm Wyatt: ETL Fashion Designer." Wyatt was rather thin, and had bleach-blonde hair styled up with gel. He had glasses that could only be described as part of the hipster fashion, and wore a long sleeved pink shirt with white sleeves, a pair of skinny jeans, and a pair of high-top shoes with some elegant pattern etched onto them.

"That's cool!" Nina said. "I'm Nina: ETL Video Game Designer."

"I'm Joel," Joel said. "ETL Lifeguard."

"Charlie," Charlie said. "ETL Gardener."

"Well, isn't this an interesting menagerie of students?" Wyatt said. "You four don't seem to have anything in common regarding your talents."

"That may be," Nina said. "But really, friendship is about more than just talents."

"I have to agree with Nina there," Chelsea said. "We shouldn't let our skills define us."

"That's an interesting way to put it," Wyatt said. "But anyway, why are you four going around together?"

"Exploration," Nina said. "We were just on our way to the race track."

"Hm," Wyatt said. "You know, I saw a couple more students also heading over there a little while ago. If you were looking for more people to meet, then they still might be there."

"Really?" Nina said. "That's good to know. And where are you going?"

"Me?" Wyatt said. "I'm off to the textile building; I must confess I'm interested in which fabrics they have available."

"Well," Chelsea said. "If it's anything like the dance hall, you won't be disappointed."

"Really now?" Wyatt said. A faint smile crossed his lips. "I hope you're not wrong there."

"I don't see why they'd give preference to one student over another," Nina said. "I mean, this place only has sixteen students here at any given time. It can't be that hard to provide equal advantages for everyone, can it?"

"You're right," Wyatt said. "Anyway, I'm off now. I guess I'll see you this evening at dinner?"

"Oh yeah!" Nina said. "I forgot about that! But yeah, see you then." Wyatt gave them all one more smile, before walking past them, heading back towards the main building.

Chelsea turned to the others as they also began to walk towards the race track.

"It's kind of funny, you know?" she said. "Even though there are only sixteen of us here, it feels like a lot more."

"Tell me about it," Nina said. "Everyone here's bursting with character. My head's spinning just trying to remember everyone's names!"

Charlie laughed. "I wouldn't worry about that," she said. "The ElectroIDs have the student roster loaded on them."

"Really?!" Nina said enthusiastically.

"Yeah," Charlie said. "It contains detailed profiles about everyone here."

"Let's see then!" Nina exclaimed.

"Okay," Charlie said. "I'll load mine to show you." Everyone crowded around Charlie as she switched on her ElectroID, displaying her profile.

**STUDENT PROFILE**

**Name: Charlotte Grath**

**Height: 5ft5**

**Weight: 124lbs**

**Blood Type: B**

**Birthday: August 30**

**Likes: Summer Breezes**

**Dislikes: Crowds**

**Title: Enhanced Talent Level Gardener**

"Whoa," Nina said. "That's extremely thorough!"

"It is," Charlie said. "I honestly didn't expect them to have researched me this well."

"Whilst we're at it," Joel said. "Why not look through the profiles of everyone else we've met today?"

"Are you sure?" Charlie said. "Surely it would be better to get to know them than to just look them up on some PDA."

"Well," Nina said. "It's not like yours gave us your life story, so it'll be fine. Not to mention it's pretty cool that we get to find out neat pieces of information like this."

"It kind of feels like we're looking them up as if they're video game characters though..." Charlie said. "But I suppose it won't hurt to satisfy a mild sense of curiosity." She returned to her ElectroID and booted up the profiles of the other students they had met throughout the day so far.

**STUDENT PROFILE**

**Name: Nina Harrison**

**Height: 5ft10**

**Weight: 135lbs**

**Blood Type: O**

**Birthday: May 26**

**Likes: Salsa Dip**

**Dislikes: Slow Internet**

**Title: Enhanced Talent Level Video Game Designer**

**STUDENT PROFILE  
**

**Name: Joel Miller**

**Height: 6ft1**

**Weight: 149lbs**

**Blood Type: B**

**Birthday: April 29**

**Likes: Family**

**Dislikes: Enclosed Spaces**

**Title: Enhanced Talent Level Lifeguard**

**STUDENT PROFILE**

**Name: Ella Walker**

**Height: 5ft3**

**Weight: 121lbs**

**Blood Type: A**

**Birthday: June 5**

**Likes: Cityscapes**

**Dislikes: Betrayal**

**Title: Enhanced Talent Level Sound Engineer**

**STUDENT PROFILE  
**

**Name: Chelsea Dennis**

**Height: 5ft6**

**Weight: 180lbs**

**Blood Type: O**

**Birthday: December 9**

**Likes: Bubblegum**

**Dislikes: Horror Movies**

**Title: Enhanced Talent Level Ballerina**

**STUDENT PROFILE**

**Name: Wyatt Temple**

**Height: 5ft8**

**Weight: 150lbs**

**Blood Type: B**

**Birthday: March 11**

**Likes: Magazines**

**Dislikes: Overused Internet Memes**

**Title: Enhanced Talent Level Fashion Designer**

"Satisfied now?" Charlie asked as she switched off her ElectroID.

"Yeah," Nina said. "But whoa: this is actually kind of neat!"

"Let's not bring any of this up to anyone out of the blue though," Chelsea said. "It kind of feels like we're invading their privacy somewhat."

"I guess," Nina said. "But at least we now have interesting conversation topics for people."

"It'll probably help break the ice," Joel said. "I guess not everyone's that good at starting conversations."

"I suppose," Charlie said. "Still, knowing people can see this about me is unnerving."

"Get used to it," Nina said. "By next summer, I know we'll all be best friends with one another."

"A little optimistic, don't you think?" Chelsea said. "I'm pretty sure that there will be at least one conflict of personality somewhere down the line."

"I know," Nina said. "But one must hope, after all."

They then began walking again, not really talking to one another until they reached the outside of the race track. Charlie was in awe at the size of it.

"Wow," she said. "It's huge."

"I know," Joel said. "And judging from what we've seen so far, I can't wait to see the pool."

"It's the garden I'm really looking forward to," Charlie said.

"We'll see that in due time," Nina said. "But first, let's take a look at the race track!" She delivered a smile to the group, and walked up to the main entrance to the building. But as she did, the door swung open, slamming her in the face. Nina reeled back as two people stepped through the door, their faces plastered with worry as they saw her.

"Oh goodness!" one said. "I'm so sorry!"

"Are you all right?" the other said.

"Fine," Nina replied. "Nothing to worry about." She took a deep breath, and smiled warmly. "See?"

"That's good to know," the first one said. "I'm Ben, by the way. I'm the ETL Abstract Artist." Ben was of average build, and had dark brown skin with short black hair, appearing to be of Indian descent. He had wide eyes that almost seemed golden, and wore a plaid shirt and white pants with brown loafers.

"And I'm Carlos," the second one said. "ETL Blogger." Carlos was shorter than Ben, and had slightly scruffy ginger hair and blue eyes. He wore a simple dark blue t-shirt with a Pikachu print on it that seemed somewhat faded, a pair of jeans, and some black and white converse shoes.

"Nice to meet you both!" Nina said. "I'm Nina: ETL Video Game Designer."

"Joel," Joel said. "ETL Lifeguard."

"I'm Chelsea," Chelsea said, smiling. "ETL Ballerina."

"And I'm Charlie," Charlie said. "ETL Gardener."

"Wait a sec," Carlos said. He walked up to Charlie. "Do you happen to be Charlotte Grath?"

"Um, yes," Charlie said. "Why?"

"I just love your blog!" he exclaimed. "You know, I have an eye for that kind of stuff, and let me tell you, besides me, I've never seen such an impressive blog!"

"Uh, thanks?" Charlie said. But Carlos didn't notice, and continued gushing.

"And the image arrangement," he said. "Combined with the subtlety of the font, it makes for every blogger's dream!"

"Wow," Chelsea said wryly. "Someone sure seems passionate. And if I may ask, what is it you blog about?"

"Depends on which blog you mean," Carlos said. "I run over two hundred blogs, all of which have at least three million subscribers!"

"Oh goodness," Chelsea replied. "That's a lot. How do you have the time to update them all regularly?"

"That's the beauty of it," Carlos said. "I've actually scheduled the next eighty weekly posts for each blog well in advance! I'm currently writing the next batch right now."

"Have fun scheduling it," Nina said. "Internet's bust."

"I know," Carlos said. He sighed. "It fills me with the deepest of despairs."

"Whoa now," Joel said. "Isn't that word kind of a sensitive topic after what happened in Japan?"

"Maybe," Carlos said. "But we shouldn't attach a stigma to the word. It's hardly the word's fault it was used in such an awful context, is it?"

"You have a point," Joel said.

"Yeah," Carlos said. "I guess I do."

"And, Carlos," Chelsea said. "May I ask as to what landed you here?"

"Oh yeah!" Carlos said. "It was actually my blog covering the happenings of the Despair Event, oddly enough."

"I guess it could have been worse," Nina said. "And what about you, Ben?"

"Me?" Ben said. "It was an art show of mine featured in one of the national galleries. My letter was delivered by hand soon after, and I've been preparing for here ever since."

"That's cool," Nina said. "And what do you do, art-wise?"

"Oh, everything," Ben said. "Sculpting, painting, pixel art... you name it, I've probably done it in an abstract medium."

"Pixel art?" Nina said, her eyes lighting up. "Do tell me!"

"It was just a political piece," Ben said with a shrug. "I made the government into character sprites. That's all. Nothing to get excited about. It was actually quite a flop as well."

"You know, I'm not half bad at pixel art," Nina said. "I could give you some pointers if you'd like."

"That would be great!" Ben said, smiling. "Once the semester begins, I'll definitely talk to you about it."

"Awesome," Nina said.

"Um," Charlie said. "I don't mean to derail the conversation, but what's the race track like?"

"Pretty empty," Ben said with a shrug. "We were hoping to see the racer, but I guess it's a little too early for that kind of stuff."

"I guess," Charlie said. "What time is it, anyway?"

"Let me check," Ben said. He looked down at his watch. "Whoa. Five already? It feels like just two minutes ago we arrived here."

"I know," Nina said. "And since the race track's disappointingly empty, how about we head to the main building's cafeteria for some dinner?"

"Fine by me," Ben said. "Let's go then."

The group of six walked along the path back to the main building. The late afternoon sun shone brightly on the campus as all the ETLs gradually made their way to the cafeteria, growing hungry after a day of exploration. It was around six thirty by the time everyone arrived.

The cafeteria was a large room filled with tables that were piled high with food. Charlie sat at one of these tables, eating from a plate of salad. Nina sat next to her, eating tortillas. The others had dispersed across the cafeteria, talking to one another.

"So," Nina said to Charlie, taking a bite of her tortilla. "How's this place looking?"

"Like something from my dreams," Charlie said.

"I know," Nina said. She looked across the room. "Hey, do you mind if we check out the other profiles? I really want to talk to everyone I didn't manage to see tomorrow, and knowing some stuff to talk about would be great."

"Okay then," Charlie said. She turned on her ElectroID, and displayed the other profiles.

**STUDENT PROFILE**

**Name: Carlos Woods**

**Height: 5ft7**

**Weight: 140lbs**

**Blood Type: O**

**Birthday: July 3**

**Likes: The News**

**Dislikes: Hypocrites**

**Title: Enhanced Talent Level Blogger**

**STUDENT PROFILE**

**Name: Ben Raiser**

**Height: 5ft7**

**Weight: 138lbs**

**Blood Type: A**

**Birthday: September 25**

**Likes: Plane Trips**

**Dislikes: Spicy Food**

**Title: Enhanced Talent Level Abstract Artist**

**STUDENT PROFILE**

**Name: Melissa Arthurs**

**Height: 5ft6**

**Weight: 143lbs**

**Blood Type: B**

**Birthday: August 4**

**Likes: Quiet Evenings**

**Dislikes: Failure**

**Title: Enhanced Talent Level Novelist**

**STUDENT PROFILE**

**Name: Shauna Kerzenna**

**Height: 5ft2**

**Weight: 120lbs**

**Blood Type: B**

**Birthday: October 29**

**Likes: Pop Music**

**Dislikes: Isolation**

**Title: Enhanced Talent Level Toy Maker**

**STUDENT PROFILE**

**Name: Mark Sanders**

**Height: 5ft9**

**Weight: 145bs**

**Blood Type: A**

**Birthday: April 17**

**Likes: The Ocean**

**Dislikes: Violence**

**Title: Enhanced Talent Level Reporter**

**STUDENT PROFILE**

**Name: Marian Tanner**

**Height: 5ft10**

**Weight: 152lbs**

**Blood Type: B**

**Birthday: September 30**

**Likes: The Smell of Books**

**Dislikes: Spiders**

**Title: Enhanced Talent Level Lawyer**

**STUDENT PROFILE**

**Name: Naomi Fenne**

**Height: 5ft8**

**Weight: 136lbs**

**Blood Type: O**

**Birthday: February 10**

**Likes: Cute Boys**

**Dislikes: Repetition**

**Title: Enhanced Talent Level Skater**

**STUDENT PROFILE**

**Name: Andrew Cyrus**

**Height: 5ft8**

**Weight: 147lbs**

**Blood Type: A**

**Birthday: January 4**

**Likes: Iced Tea**

**Dislikes: Bears**

**Title: Enhanced Talent Level Racer**

**STUDENT PROFILE**

**Name: John Smith**

**Height: 5ft9**

**Weight: 150lbs**

**Blood Type: AB**

**Birthday: November 28**

**Likes: Fresh Bedsheets **

**Dislikes: Public Transport**

**Title: Enhanced Talent Level Empathic**

**STUDENT PROFILE (lmao what a dumb title)**

**Name: His Royal Highness Dirk Parker**

**Height: Taller than u peasants**

**Weight: hella B)**

**Blood Type: XXX ultra rare**

**Birthday: March 31 (or is it? nobody knows :o 2spooky)**

**Likes: Honest to God**

**Dislikes: Just ask me in person if you're that curious but I'm really kinda boring**

**Title: Enhanced Talent Level Messiah (No joke 100% serious biznizzle here) (Is actually dope as hell Hacker represent)**

"What the hell is that last one?!" Nina exclaimed.

"I think it's a poorly executed joke," Charlie said. "If it's any indication I think it's because he's the ETL hacker, if this is to be trusted."

"I hate wise guys like that," Nina said. She rolled her eyes.

"At least it reveals something about his personality," Charlie offered. "Just be careful to not actually punch him in the face when you meet him."

"I won't," Nina said. "Don't worry." She then began to smirk. "It is actually kind of funny, you know?"

Charlie smiled. "Yeah, it is."

Before either girl could speak any further, however, someone stood onto their table. Charlie recognised her from the ElectroID as Shauna, the ETL Toy Maker.

"Could I please have everyone's attention?" Shauna said. The cafeteria soon turned quiet. "Thank you. Anyway, my name's Shauna, and it's great to meet you all here at Sun's Joy!"

"Don't waste time," the girl next to Shauna, Melissa, said.

"Whoops!" Shauna said. "Back to the main point: as a way to hope for a great year with you guys, I've decided to plan a beach party for us all!"

"That's a great idea!" Nina spoke up.

"Thanks," Shauna said, smiling. "So the plan for tomorrow is to wake first thing, and head down to the east beach for a day of sun, sand, and friendship! After all, what better way is there to get to know your fellow ETLs?" Several people then began to speak up, saying things such as "I'm in", and "Why not?"

"I don't know," Charlie said quietly to Nina. "I don't do big social events."

"Come on," Nina said. "It's not like you've got anything better to do." Charlie hesitated. Nina was right. And besides, this was the best opportunity she had to introduce herself to some other people.

"All right then," Charlie said. "I'll try."

"That's the spirit," Nina said.

"Okay everyone," Shauna said. "We'll all meet here at seven AM, and be down at the beach by nine. Sound good?" Several people voiced their approval. "Okay then! It's pretty late now, so I guess we should maybe head off to bed so that none of us are tired for tomorrow!"

"I like her," Nina said to Charlie. "She's definitely the type of person I'd love to have as a friend."

"Yeah," Charlie said. "I'm actually a little excited for this party myself now that I think about it."

"I think we all are, actually," Nina said. "Hopefully this will allow for even the most reclusive to come out of their shells."

"I hope so," Charlie said. "But promise me you won't leave me alone; I don't think I'm ready to make that step just yet."

"All right then," Nina said with a smile. "I promise." She then looked around, and saw the others filing out of the cafeteria in groups of two or three. "We should probably get going as well. Shauna said it best: we don't want to be tired for tomorrow."

"Okay then," Charlie said. She placed her ElectroID in her pocket. "Let's go."

The two of them stood up, and left their seats, walking through the cafeteria to the hallway outside. The sun had set now, and the lights above them illuminated the hallways perfectly. Charlie smiled to herself. She had started today adamant that she was going to avoid talking to everyone for the entire year, but now she was preparing to go to a beach party of all things. She wished the internet was working; her parents would be enthralled to know that their daughter was developing a social life. _Once everything's up and running,_ she told herself. _After the welcoming ceremony._

Charlie wasn't aware of it, but none of this would come to pass. By the time that the welcoming ceremony was scheduled to happen, she would be experiencing complete and utter despair along with the other ETLs. None of them had any idea of how grave the situation was to become. And if they did, none of them would have boarded the helicopters to take them to Sun's Joy Academy.


	4. The New Reality

**A/N: Hey. We now move on to the actual storyline of this, after tons of exposition and character introductions. So without further ado, let the School Life of Mutual Killing commence! **

**Also, there's now a poll on my profile for you all to vote on who you think the first victim will be! Be sure to do so; voting is mandatory, and if you get it wrong, you will be punished! - Just kidding. But it will still be fun to see who you all think the first to go will be! **

**So enjoy this chapter, and all the delightful despair along with it!**

* * *

The next morning, Dirk woke early. His first action was to open up his computer, and check the internet.

"Still dead," he said to himself. No, not dead, he corrected; there was a network available, just that it was encrypted with some password he couldn't find out. The network name MONOKUMA_NET01 stared Dirk in the face, mocking him. It was the only thing he couldn't hack: he had even managed to hack into the simple wireless network that surrounded the ElectroIDs, and had screwed around with his profile for giggles. That he could do. But get beyond a simple password? It seemed impossible.

Still, Dirk realised that there was no point in moping around all day. Shauna had decided on some kind of beach party today and he couldn't exactly not turn up. Besides, the fresh air might do him some good: walking was actually something Dirk liked to do to clear his head when faced with decoding something particularly hard.

So with this decided, Dirk showered and dressed for the day, before making his way down to the cafeteria. It was still fairly early, so there were maybe two or three other people in there besides himself. He sat in the corner of the room, eating from a plate of waffles as he opened up his PDA. He could still access the ElectroID network. That was still the extent of his hacking abilities. He sighed, and turned off his PDA. He'd look into it later today, after the whole beach party thing.

The calm silence that filled the cafeteria was soon broken as two figures walked into the room; Dirk recognised them as Marian and Andrew, the Lawyer and the Racer, respectively. They quickly grabbed what they wanted from the breakfast bar, and made their way over to Dirk's table.

"Good morning Your Highness," Marian said wryly as she sipped from her coffee.

"You saw that then," Dirk said coolly.

"So did I," Andrew added, grinning as he ate a banana. "Triple X blood type? I thought my grandmother was the only one in the world with that!"

"Well you're wrong," Dirk said. "And anyway, what's up with displaying our blood type like that?"

"I think I know the answer," Marian said. As she said this, the morning sunlight shone through the windows, brightening the cafeteria. "In certain cultures, people believe that blood types determine your personality."

"Like how some people believe in star signs?" Andrew asked.

"Exactly like that," Marian said. "Although, it's more of an eastern thing. Really, it would have made sense to put our star signs on if that's what they were aiming for."

"Well, we can just ask them tomorrow," Dirk said.

"You're right," Marian said. "I guess for today we just enjoy ourselves before the semester begins."

"Yeah," Dirk said.

"So, are you guys looking forward to it?" Andrew said.

"Kind of," Marian said. "Although beaches aren't really my thing. I'm more of an indoors kind of girl."

"Same," Dirk said. "But it should allow us to all socialise or whatever."

"I know," Marian said. "I'm still conflicted though. I really just want to go see the courtroom again."

"Courtroom?" Dirk said.

"Yeah," Marian replied, smiling. "How can you entertain an ETL Lawyer without a courtroom to hold practice trials in?"

"Makes sense," Dirk said. "So what are we gonna do? Hold a pretend trial for the murder of Andrew or something?"

"Maybe," Marian said. "That'd be cool, though: staging crimes for us to solve would be a great way to grow closer."

"A little unorthodox, I'll give you that," Dirk said. "But I'd take part in that if you were to ever arrange it."

"Maybe during the weekend I'll ask to use the courtroom," Marian said. "It could be like those clubs people held in high school."

"Man, that seems a million miles away," Dirk said.

"Tell me about it," Andrew said. "I can hardly remember anything from there anyway; pretty sure I spent the final few months taking part in racing tournaments." He laughed. "I think I actually missed the graduation ceremony."

"I didn't attend," Dirk said. "It was a waste of time, and quite frankly embarrassing." It was his turn to chuckle.

"What did you do?" Marian said accusingly.

"You got me," Dirk said. "All right then: I replaced the Powerpoint with a slide show of the teachers' summer break night on the town; their fault for keeping them on private Facebook feeds they assume the students can't access."

"How bad was it?" Andrew asked, grinning.

"Just things like the vice principal passed out on the floor of a strip club," Dirk said.

"Oh my god," Marian said. She covered her mouth with her hand in a weak attempt to conceal her laughter. "Seriously?"

"Then I shouldn't mention the French teachers doing the macarena," Dirk said.

"Man," Andrew said. "Are you for real?"

"You can sort of tell I got bored in my final few months of high school," Dirk said.

"At least you had fun," Marian said. "My entire final year was spent solving petty crimes that took place within the school. Like I'm some kind of teenage Phoenix Wright or whatever."

"Sounds fun," Andrew said dryly.

"Trust me," Marian said. "It wasn't."

Across from Dirk's group, Naomi sat with Ella and Chelsea. Naomi was eating some pancakes, whilst Ella and Chelsea stuck to coffee.

"You know," Ella said. "If you eat now, you won't have any appetite for the beach party."

"Nah, I will," Naomi said. "You have no idea of the level of food I can eat throughout the day."

"Big eater, huh?" Chelsea said. "Just don't let the calories catch up with you."

"Girl," Naomi said. "I'm constantly rushing myself around on these skates here so I think I'm pretty good."

"You're wearing your skates?" Ella said. She raised her eyebrows. "For a beach party?"

"Duh," Naomi said. "What else am I supposed to wear? These are like the only shoes I own!"

"For real?" Chelsea said.

"Yeah!" Naomi said confidently. "A true skater girl can't be seen dead without her skates!"

"If you say so," Ella said. "But you don't see me attached to any of my gear, do you?"

"But skating is a totally different world!" Naomi said. "You can't rest, not even for a minute!"

"Huh," Chelsea said. "Skating never struck me as something that intense."

"Believe me, it is!" Naomi exclaimed.

"All right then," Ella said. "But don't come crying to me when your skates get covered in sand."

"Oh," Naomi said. "I hadn't thought of that. That could pose a huge problem!"

"So we're finally on the same page," Ella said dryly.

"Don't be like that," Chelsea said.

"Sorry," Ella replied. "I was just making some suggestions."

Naomi smiled widely. "And I appreciate them!" she exclaimed. "Thanks to you, I'll be sure to keep my skates safe!"

"Glad to help," Ella said, sipping from the coffee.

"I'm happy to have such helpful friends!" Naomi exclaimed. She ate another pancake in record speak. "Oh, but now I'm all kinds of pumped up for this beach party! When do we begin?!"  
"I guess when Shauna arrives," Chelsea said. She looked to the entrance as Nina and Ben walked through, talking to each other. "Hopefully it shouldn't be too long now."

"And then, it's just a matter of placing each pixel in the right place," Nina said to Ben as they sat down. "Of course, if you're looking for animations, that's a whole other story."

"It actually doesn't sound as hard as I thought," Ben said. He was holding a notepad with him. The back page had several notes scribbled over it from Nina's talk about pixel art. She had decided to tell him all about it just before heading down to breakfast.

"Once you get the hang of it," Nina said. "After a while, it'll be as easy as typing on a computer!"

"Well, I have an idea for a new project," Ben said, flashing a friendly smile. "I'll call it Nina."

"Oh stop it you!" Nina said, laughing. "Any old online tutorial will give you even more information."

"But we have no internet right now," Ben said. "You're the best I have."

"You're far too kind!" Nina replied, grinning widely.

"Um, excuse me." They both looked up to see Charlie standing there. "Can I sit with you?"

"Of course!" Nina said. "Take a seat!"

"Thank you," Charlie said. She sat down next to Nina. "By the way, I began playing your game last night."

"Really?" Nina said. "What do you think of it?"

"It's really interesting!" Charlie said. "And I think I managed to go down the route of magical-girl adventure."

"That was the most fun to come up with, you know?" Nina said. "How far are you into it?"

"The final act of chapter one," Charlie said. "I think it's still the tutorial stage."

"Yeah," Nina said. "But I'm really glad to hear that you're enjoying it!"

"Which game is this?" Ben asked.

"Carefree Starlight," Nina explained. "Heard of it?"

"Oh yeah!" Ben said. "That's my current favourite game!"

"And may I ask how far you're into it?" Nina said.

"Chapter five, act four, sci-fi route," Ben said.

"PC port?" Nina asked. Ben nodded. "Oh, man. Be sure to keep a box of tissues with you; there's a very specific scene that's coming up that will emotionally wreck you."

"Please don't tell me Sariah's going to go through with her suicide mission," Ben said.

"My lips are sealed," Nina said with a wink. She mimed zipping her mouth shut.

"Mind if I change the subject?" Charlie said. "Is anybody looking forward to the beach party?"

"Yeah," Nina said. "I can't wait! I spoke to Shauna last night about it, and if what she says is any indication, it's going to be awesome!"

"My childhood practically consisted of spending summer exclusively at the beach," Ben said. "So yeah, I'm excited."

"What time is it now?" Charlie asked.

"Eight thirty," Nina said. "I don't think we should be waiting much longer for everything to kick off."

On the other side of the cafeteria, Wyatt sat with Carlos, watching the scene unfold in front of them. Mark was currently interviewing John, having set up a space for his camera to stand on its tripod.

"So, John," Mark began. He was wearing a friendly grin. "Tell me. What's it like being the ETL Empathic?"

"I don't know," John said. "I don't feel especially different in any way now that I have the title. It's just that I can tell so much from a person just by looking at them."

"Sounds impressive," Mark said with impossible charisma. "Let's see it in action, then!"

"Okay," John said. "So long as you're okay with any potential personal information leaking."

"I'm fine with it!" Mark said.

"Good," John said. "So, Mark, from my observations, it appears that you're an energetic individual who strives to create harmony and joy within a large group of people. You are viewing this entire documentary as both a learning experience and a sentimental keepsake, as being in showbiz you know nothing lasts forever. Also, you appear to be doing this to impress someone that you may or may not be attracted to."

"Oh, wow," Mark said. "It's just as they say: you're brilliant!"

"Thanks," John said. "It's nice to be able to use this talent in a more relaxed environment."

"What do you mean?" Mark asked.

"It's just that normally I'm associated with the police," John said with a shrug. "I can perfectly envision the way a crime has been carried out, and my psychological profiling is so accurate that they usually catch the culprit within twenty four hours of the crime occurring."

"Goodness," Mark said. "Well then. I guess if there's ever a mystery that needs solving, we can come to the ETL Empathic to help us out!"

There was a brief lull in the conversation, and Mark turned the camera off.

"Done?" Carlos asked.

"Yep!" Mark said. "Every last ETL has been interviewed. I'll film the beach party, and then spend tonight editing it to present the first episode of the Sun's Joy documentary series by this time tomorrow."

"You can really do it by then?" Wyatt asked.

"Trust me on this," Mark said. "I'm an expert."

"Good to know," John said. "Should we tell the others?"

"Not just yet," Mark said. "Wait until the beach party. It seems like a more fitting place to break the news, doesn't it?"

"I guess," Wyatt said. He smiled. "I think this documentary will be the best way to bring us all together."

"Yeah," Mark said. "Since for the first time, I fail to see any conflicting personalities anywhere!"

"Hopefully it remains that way," Wyatt said. "The group dynamic is working brilliantly so far, for once."

"For once?" Carlos asked. "What do you mean?"

"Being a fashion designer means I've been with all kinds of model groups," Wyatt explained. "Male, female... you name it, I've seen it."

"And?" Mark said.

"Whilst they all look gorgeous on the runway," Wyatt said, "back-stage, the dynamic is vicious. Everyone's only looking out for themselves, and they'll stop at nothing to get their way."

"Whoa," Mark said. "Sounds cheery."

"Tell me about it," Wyatt said with a sigh. "I'm just glad to be free of it all here."

"I completely understand," John said.

"Of course you do," Carlos said. "You can feel whatever we feel."

"No, I mean personally," John said. "My personal experiences were the same; it was all about who could be the most hostile to me. Half of the people I worked with believed I was a fraud, and the other half wanted to be the sole people that could use me."

"Yikes," Mark said. "I've never had to really face anything beyond some interview arguments."

"I guess you're lucky then," John said. "But anyway, that's all behind us, isn't it?"

"I suppose," Mark said.

At that moment in time, the doors to the cafeteria opened, revealing Shauna, Melissa, and Joel. Melissa and Joel were both pushing carts piled up with supplies, whilst Shauna stood in front, still holding her puppet Cammy.

"Hello everyone!" she said brightly. "Sorry to keep you waiting for so long, but we're finally ready to head to the beach!"

"That's great news!" Nina said.

"I have to admit, I'm rather excited," Marian said.

"This is going to be great!" Mark exclaimed.

"Indeed it is!" Shauna said confidently. Cammy shook in her arms as she walked into the middle of the cafeteria. "We have two carts piled high with food, water, bathing suits, beach supplies... everything!"

"Where did you get everything from?" Chelsea asked.

"The food and water came from the cafeteria," Melissa explained. "And most of the other stuff came from the pool."

"I helped find it," Joel said.

"Haha, this is rad to the max!" Naomi exclaimed. "What are we waiting for?! Let's head down to the beach!" Naomi leaped up from her seat, and began to skate across the room. But as she did so, a noise rang out that stopped her in her tracks.

"_A-hem! Mic test, mic test! Can you hear me?"_

Melissa froze when she heard the voice. It was the same voice that had sounded out when she received her ElectroID. She glanced over at Shauna, and saw the same recognition on her friend's face. Looking across the cafeteria, it appeared everyone had heard the voice before.

"_This is an important announcement from the headmaster of Sun's Joy Academy! Can every Enhanced Talent Level student gather in the meeting hall? It's time for the welcoming ceremony!"_

"Wait!" Nina said. "I thought that was supposed to be tomorrow?"

"It is," Dirk said. He lifted his PDA. "The schedule says for the ceremony to begin Monday at nine-thirty. It's Sunday today."

"That's strange," Melissa said. "Why change the date suddenly?"

"I don't know," Shauna said. "I just hope this doesn't cut into our time for the beach party too much!"

"These kind of things can take up to two hours though," Marian said. "It may be some time before we get to go to the beach then."

"Aww..." Naomi said. "I was really looking forward to it!"

"We'll still go," Shauna reasoned. "We'll just have to wait a while, is all."

"I'm interested in why they're making it today," Mark said. "Perhaps they heard of our plans to head to the beach, and don't approve?"

"Interesting theory," John said. "But I don't think anyone in this place would be that spiteful."

"I guess it all depends," Marian said. "The best course of action right now is to head down to the meeting hall and get this over and done with. Remember: the longer it takes to get there, the longer we'll have to wait until we can head to the beach." Marian stood up from her seat, and walked past Melissa, leaving the cafeteria.

"I suggest we follow Marian's example," Shauna said. "Let's head down to the meeting hall, everyone!"

Melissa followed Shauna out of the cafeteria, and towards the stairs. As they approached the stairs, Dirk caught up to them.

"Hey," Melissa said. "What do you want?"

"Nothing," Dirk said. "From you, anyway. From them? I want answers. They can't just change up the schedule like that."

"Apparently they can," Melissa said dryly.

"Come on now," Shauna said. "It's not the end of the world. I guarantee we'll be at the beach by noon!"

"Hopefully," Melissa said. They began to descend the staircase. Naomi slid down the banister on the other side. She flashed them a smile before she began to skate down the hallway out of sight. "Although, this seems to be killing the mood somewhat."

"Yeah," Shauna said. "However, we'll all be in the mood once we're actually there." She shifted Cammy in her arms as they reached the hallway below. It was the same hallway Melissa had walked through when she first arrived at Sun's Joy; the sign was still there, directing them to the hall.

"It's this way," Dirk said, motioning to the sign. "Come on."

Melissa and Shauna followed Dirk through the hallway to the meeting hall's entrance. They reached the door just as Ella vanished behind it.

"Well," Melissa said, "let's get this over with." She pushed open the door, and the three of them stepped inside. Surprisingly, the hall was in the exact same condition it was in yesterday. They quickly sat down on one of the seats as the final few people filed in. Mark was the last to enter, and sat down next to Melissa.

"Hey," he said with a smile. "Did I miss anything?"

"No," Melissa said. "We've sort of just been waiting here. What took you so long anyway?"

"Bathroom," Mark said simply.

"Oh," Melissa said, rightfully lacking the intention to press any further. "Too much information, don't you think?"

"Sorry," Mark said.

The two of them stopped talking, and sat in silence along with the other students for the next few minutes. But as they sat there, Melissa became aware that something wasn't right. The atmosphere was heavy, and she had a real bad feeling about all of this. Every instinct was telling her to get up right now, and run as far away from this place as possible. Shauna saw the distress on her friend's face, and was about to ask what was wrong, when suddenly a party whistle sounded out from the stage.

Every eye turned to face the stage as confetti rained down from the ceiling. And then, from behind the podium, a small teddy bear leaped up, teetering on top of the podium. It was half white, half black. Its white side appeared like any other teddy bear, but the right side contained a sinister grin and flashing red eye.

"Ha!" Naomi cried out from her seat. "How adorable! I've never seen a teddy bear like that before!"

"Hey!" the bear suddenly cried out. It jumped off of the podium, and landed on the stage. "I'm no teddy bear! It's despairingly awful of you to see me as nothing but a mere toy!"

"What?!" Mark exclaimed. He tensed up. "It can talk!"

"I'm no it either!" the bear said, almost appearing to glare at the students. "I'm Monobear! And I'm the headmaster of Sun's Joy Academy!"

"But you're a toy," Marian said. "How can you have any form of authority? You're no different to Shauna's puppet, really."

Chelsea then turned to Shauna. "Hey Shauna," she said. "Is this some kind of prank you're pulling!"

"What?" Shauna said. "No! Why would I do that?"

"Exactly," Monobear said. "Now you bastards should really think before you reduce me to the same league as that ugly puppet." His head sunk down, and a sigh escaped from him.

"Wait a second," Melissa said. "Your voice! It's the same one I heard when I received my ElectroID!"

"As I said, that's because I'm headmaster!" Monobear exclaimed. "What kind of headmaster would I be if I didn't offer my students their own ElectroIDs?"

"Whatever," Dirk said coldly. "Just who the hell's controlling you, and why won't you show your face? This is all pretty childish."

"How rude!" Monobear cried out. "I'm Monobear! I don't need someone to control me!"

"Oh my god," Dirk said. He stood up. "That's it. I'm out of here."

"Leaving is impossible, by the way," Monobear said, staring at Dirk. "And the hall is locked until the ceremony is over, so if I were you, I'd sit down again."

"And if I don't?" Dirk challenged Monobear.

"I'll have no choice but to impale you," Monobear said. He then pulled out a bayonet from seemingly nowhere. This was enough to whip the students into a frenzy.

"He's got a weapon!" Naomi cried out. She, and several others, also leaped up, beginning to back away from Monobear. "We have to get out!"

"Sit down! All of you!" Monobear ordered. "Or I will have to impale all of you!" Melissa watched from her seat as those who had stood up sat down again uncomfortably. Those who had chosen to sit on the front row now sat as far back as possible. The bayonet had vanished. "Thank you. Now we can continue!"

"Continue with what?" Mark asked.

"You bastards sure are curious ones, aren't you?" Monobear said. "No matter, I'm a patient bear, so I have all the time in the world to tell you bastards what needs to be told!"

"Okay then," Marian said. "We're listening."

"Excellent!" Monobear said. "Now, the first thing on the agenda is this: Sun's Joy Academy is to be your new home!"

"I'm pretty sure we already established this ourselves," Ella said dryly.

"You misunderstand," Monobear said. "What I mean is, this school is where you're going to be spending the rest of your pathetic lives!"

"What?!" Carlos exclaimed. "You can't be serious!"

"I'm entirely serious," Monobear said. "You're isolated from the rest of the world by thousands of miles of ocean. There's no phone-lines, no internet... you bastards are entirely isolated!"

"So that's why we haven't had any internet connection," Nina said. "But why isolate us?"

"So that nobody will interfere with your new school life!" Monobear said. "We can't have the authorities ruining our good time, can we?"

"Surely our friends and family will notice if they suddenly don't hear from us!" Joel exclaimed.

"Eh, probably," Monobear said. "But worry not! There is indeed a way out of this place!"

"Really?" Ella said. "What is it?"

"You graduate!" Monobear exclaimed, throwing his paws up in the air.

"That it?" Dirk said. "Then we'll all be out of here by next summer, if you aren't aware."

"No no no!" Monobear. "You're wrong!" His red eye suddenly flashed ominously. "Graduation isn't about completing a school year, no. In fact, one of you bastards could be out of here by tomorrow!"

"I doubt that claim," Marian said.

"I'm only speaking the truth!" Monobear said. "Anyway, to graduate, there is only one rule: you have to kill another student! Upupu!"

A silence descended upon the hall. Chills ran through everyone's bodies as they looked at Monobear in disbelief.

"K-kill?" Shauna said, eyes wide. Cammy drooped in her arms. She didn't bother to fix him. "Are you serious?"

"Deadly serious!" Monobear said. "Can you bastards get any dumber!"

"So let me get this straight," Dirk said coolly. "If I were to, say, suddenly kill Melissa, you'd let me out?"

"I appreciate your drive," Monobear said. "But it's not that simple!"

"I knew it," Marian said. "So come on, Monobear, what's the catch?"

"To successfully complete graduation," Monobear said, "you must survive the school trial!"

"Trial?" Ben asked.

"Yes," Monobear replied. "In a school trial, you bastards will have to deduce who the culprit of the murder is. The culprit's job is to avoid detection, obviously, whilst the innocents have to figure out whodunnit!"

"Is that it?" Wyatt said.

"Nope!" Monobear said. "At the end of the trial, you bastards must vote on who you think is guilty. If you are correct, the culprit is punished. But if you are incorrect, then everyone besides the culprit will be punished!"

"W-what do you mean by 'punished'?" Charlie asked, her voice trembling.

"I thought I made myself obvious," Monobear said, tilting his head. "But I guess I have to spell it out for you bastards: punishment means execution. Are we all clear on this?"

"What?!" Naomi shrieked. "You can't do that!"

"I can and I will," Monobear said. "End of discussion."

"So we have the what out of the way," John added. "The next question is: why?"

"Why?" Monobear asked. "Simple! You bastards are supposedly the hope of the future, right? So to see you all fall into the despair of the School Life of Mutual Killing will be delightful?"

"School Life of Mutual Killing?" Melissa said. "You've even come up with a title for it?"

"Of course!" Monobear said. "What kind of bear would I be if I didn't!"

"Somewhat more normal..." Andrew said, his voice faltering.

"But anyway," Marian said. "Sure, you've announced all this. But do you really think any of us will kill?"

"Aha!" Monobear suddenly shouted. "That's where it gets even better! See, I knew that you bastards wouldn't eagerly succumb to the School Life of Mutual Killing, so I have devised a series of motives to get the ball rolling!"

"What kind of motive?" Marian asked.

"Whatever I feel like at the time, really," Monobear said nonchalantly. "However, this motive has been especially designed to kick off your new School Life of Mutual Killing! Watch this!" Monobear pulled out a remote consisting of one single big red button. He pressed it.

All of a sudden, a low groaning sound reverberated throughout the building. The students looked at one another, before a metallic whirring reached their ears. Every eye turned upwards to see the massive skylight on the ceiling. A large iron plate was sliding over the window, sealing it up. For a few moments, darkness descended upon the hall, before the lights switched on, illuminating the room once more.

"What was that?" Ella said.

"The motive!" Monobear exclaimed. "Until one of you bastards commits a murder, you will all be trapped inside the main building! No more sea, sand, or sun for you bastards!"

"What?!" Naomi yelled. "But we were going to have a beach party today!"

"Too bad," Monobear said. "If you want to see the beach again, just kill! It's that simple! Upupu!"

"Sure, it's awful," Shauna said. "But do you really think trapping us inside a building is enough to cause us to kill?"

"But Shauna," Joel said. "You were the one looking forward to it the most!"

"Well, not if it's at the expense of another's life," Shauna said. "I guess we'll just have to think of something else to do then." She glared at Monobear.

"Oh!" he said. "That reminds me! Check your ElectroIDs – I've updated the academy rules!" Monobear teetered on the spot. "Upupu! I can really feel the despair emanating from you all!"

"Shut up," Dirk said. "We don't care how you get off on despair or whatever."

"How hurtful!" Monobear said. "And after all I've done..."

"You trapped us in a building and told us we would never see the light of day again unless we kill someone," Marian said flatly. "Yeah, thanks."

"Psh. Whatever," Monobear said. "You speak all high and mighty now, but I guarantee at least one of you bastards will fall into despair." He walked along the rows of chairs. "Enjoy your new School Life of Mutual Killing!" Monobear then suddenly disappeared, leaving the students inside the sealed up meeting hall.

Shauna and Marian both stood up at the same time. They looked at each other, knowing they both had the same intention.

"You go first," Shauna said to Marian.

"Thanks," Marian said. She turned to face the crowd. "Could I please have everyone's attention?" Any whispered conversations that were going on died out as everyone looked up at the ETL Lawyer. "All right then. Now, the first thing we are going to establish is this: nobody is giving in to Monobear's killing game, all right?"

"How can you be sure?" Charlie said anxiously.

"Because we're still in the real world," Marian said. "If we hold out long enough, someone will come to our rescue and take down whatever Monobear is. It may take some time, but we just have to keep holding on."

"I don't know," Naomi said. "There's no way we can all remain cooped up in this building for the rest of forever!"

"It won't be forever," Marian said. "It will only be for a little while. This will soon be behind us."

"I'm in agreement with Marian here," Shauna said. "Taking part in that game will only end badly. So get that idea out of your heads right now, got it?"

"Okay then," Joel said. "But now what do we do?"  
"Perhaps check the rules," Shauna said. "In a hostage situation, it's best to follow any rules set by your captor."

"That's an interesting thing to know," John said. "How do you know that?"

"When I was a child I was held at gunpoint by a drug addict," Shauna said. "But that's not important."

"I'll check the rules," Melissa said. She opened up her ElectroID, and selected 'Academy Rules'.

**Sun's Joy Academy: School Life of Mutual Killing Rules**

**Acts of violence against the headmaster are prohibited**

**Destruction of surveillance equipment is prohibited**

**In order to graduate, murder another student without being discovered**

**After a body has been discovered, a few hours will be allocated to investigate before a school trial is held**

**If the culprit is correctly identified, they alone will be punished**

**If an innocent person is wrongly identified, everyone will be punished besides the true culprit**

**Accomplices to the murder will not count as culprits if they did not actually commit a murder**

**Each prospective killer may only murder up to two students**

**The time period between 10pm and 7am will be known as Night Time – certain areas will be restricted at this point**

**The courtroom is now restricted except in the event of a school trial**

**Further rules will be added as necessary**

"They've really thought this through, then..." Chelsea said, viewing her own ElectroID. "What if someone actually commits a murder?"

"Yeah," Andrew added. "Right now, all I can think of is whether or not I'll be killed."

"Don't think that way," Shauna said. She adjusted Cammy again. "You're letting Monobear win by thinking like that."

"It's hardly our fault if that's all we can think of," Carlos said.

Shauna sighed. "Sorry, I know," she said. "You know what? We need to do something to take our minds off of this whole murder business." She forced a smile. The others seemed to buy it, even if some were just lying to themselves.

"But what do you suggest?" Naomi said. "Our beach plans have crashed and burned."

"I know," Shauna said. "But there's still stuff to do in this building!We have this meeting hall, the IT room, and two more ETL areas!"

"I have an idea," Nina said. "Why not throw a dance or something in this hall?"

"That's actually not a bad idea," Shauna said. "Anyone agree with this idea?"

"I'm okay with it," Dirk said.

"It could be fun," Wyatt said.

"Why not?" Ella said. "I mean, I could easily set up the music, no problem."

"I'd be able to make the decorations," Ben said.

"And I took a bunch of material from the textile building yesterday," Wyatt said. "I could whip up a bunch of outfits for us all."

"That sounds great!" Shauna said. "Does anyone else have any contributions?"

"Well, I'd be willing to help out with things such as decorations," Charlie said. "And I think a few more of us would be." Several other people nodded in confirmation.

"Perfect," Shauna said. "Now all we need to decide on is a date and time."

"Setting up all the sound equipment will probably take a day or so," Ella said. "Sorry, but I'll need time to familiarise myself with what we have, and then move it down here."

"Same with the outfits," Wyatt said. "It takes time to produce sixteen outfits; we're looking at tomorrow by the earliest."

"Okay then," Shauna said. "Then how about tomorrow evening?"

"That sounds good," Andrew said. "And it gives us time to set everything up perfectly."

"Tomorrow evening it is then," Shauna said. "It's nine-thirty now, so that gives us until ten tonight at the earliest to complete the first set of preparations."

"But Monobear said that he locked the doors to this hall," Joel said.

"They're unlocked now," Dirk said.

"What? How can you tell?" Joel demanded.

"One door is slightly ajar," Dirk said, motioning to the door. "Hardly locked, is it?"

"Oh, yeah," Joel said sheepishly.

"All right then!" Shauna said. She moved Cammy again. "I think we should get going on preparing for this dance! Everyone know what they're doing?" Several nods. "And for those without a set job, just find someone who's already working on something and ask to help out!"

"Um, Shauna," Melissa said. "I don't mean to be rude, but what if someone's already planning a murder?"

"We can't accept that," Shauna said. "But just for the time being, we should try and avoid moving around alone just in case that tiny possibility is true. It should be safer for everyone."

"I'm okay with this," Melissa said.

"Okay," Shauna announced. "With that settled, we can now begin to prepare for what will surely be the best dance ever!"

Everyone stood up from their seats, and began to file out of the meeting hall. A few people had their worries put to rest by this plan, but others were still full of terror. They were all trying to tell themselves that the School Life of Mutual Killing was a joke, but deep down, everyone knew that this was their new reality.


	5. Preparations

**A/N: Hey. This time around we get to see the students preparing for the dance, and also Monobear screwing with them. :P**

**The poll's still open, by the way, so be sure to vote for who you think the first victim is! :D**

**Besides that, enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Mark walked along the hallway, the light bulbs replacing the sunlight that would have normally filtered through the now sealed windows. For some reason, a chill ran through him. It was fairly understandable to be like this, though: they had all just been trapped inside this building and told that if they wanted to see the light of day again, they'd have to commit a murder and get away with it.

The question on his mind was simple: was anyone actually going to go through with it? He hoped not, and if his interviews had been any indication, they were all good people.

"Good people can turn bad, though..." he told himself as he climbed the stairs back up to the second floor where the cafeteria resided. He wasn't even sure why he was heading in this direction, but it felt like the right way to go. His camera felt oddly heavy in his hands, as if the guilt of knowing he could have filmed a potential killer was manifesting itself as the weight of the equipment. No, he told himself. If anyone was to kill, it would not be his fault.

Besides, with Shauna's party being planned, it would take everyone's minds off of the School Life of Mutual Killing, provided Monobear didn't try anything. If he did, that would probably dampen the mood further.

Mark glanced at his camera again. The device was on, and was displaying a frozen frame of the latest recording: Monobear's face was on the screen. Shame burned inside him for filming the entirety of the welcoming ceremony, but he felt he had to. He had to document every moment within this hellish academy as proof it actually happened.

"Yo Mark," a voice said from behind him. Mark tensed up and switched off the camera. He turned around to see Dirk standing there.

"Oh, hey," he replied. "Are you okay?"

"About as okay as you can get regarding the situation," Dirk said airily. "Anyway, I need you to come with me."

"What?" Mark asked.

"We're heading up to the IT room," Dirk said. "There's something I need to do."

"But why me?" Mark said. "And what about the party?"

"We'll get to that later," Dirk said. "It's not until tomorrow anyway, is it?"

"I suppose," Mark said. "But let's hurry up."

The IT room was on the floor above the dorms, and was essentially a large room lined with computers. A large screen was on one of the walls, with a projector facing it. Every computer was turned off except for two. Ella was sat at one of them, and the other one Dirk was using, Mark assumed.

"Hello Mark," Ella said, looking up from her screen. She was wearing a large pair of headphones.

"Hi Ella," Mark replied. "What are you doing?"

"Creating the playlist for the dance," Ella said. "Dirk helped me remotely access everyone's music players to create a playlist nobody will hate." She smiled wryly. "I feel like some kind of super-spy."

"Don't worry," Dirk said to Mark. "We just copied the files from everyone's iPods."

"Even mine?" Mark said, curious.

"Yeah," Dirk said. "I didn't actually alter anything though. That's saved for when I can hack Monobear's network."

"You think you can do it?" Mark said. "And can we speak about this? Isn't Monobear monitoring everything?"

"He is," Dirk said. "But he's confident that I won't be able to do it."

"Anyway," Mark said. "What is it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Oh yeah," Dirk said. He motioned to the computer. "Take a look at this."

"All right then," Mark said. He cautiously sat down in front of the computer, and moved the mouse. The screen burst to life, displaying the paused image of a video. A chill ran throughout Mark's body as he stared at the screen. He recognised the scene immediately: it was from when he did the report on the Despair event in Japan. This was his interview with a member of a group called the Super High School Level Despair. He vaguely recalled the name – Junko Enoshima or something.

"Seem familiar?" Dirk said.

"Yeah," Mark said, trembling. "But how are you accessing it?"

"Found it on your iPod along with your music," Dirk said.

"Okay then," Mark said. "What's the significance of this then?"

"You don't remember?" Dirk said. "Just play the report. You'll see it."

"All right," Mark said. He pressed play, watching the interview.

"Who are you?" the girl said. She was stood in the middle of a burning street. "I'm Junko Enoshima, leader of the SHSL Despair!"

"I'm Mark," Mark heard himself say. "And I'm doing a report on this incident. Do you have a few minutes?"

"Of course!" Junko chirped. "Anything for my adoring public! Upupu~" Mark froze when he heard the words escape Junko's mouth. She had said it in exactly the same way as Monobear had done. He glanced at the screen, and nearly fell off his chair when he saw it: Junko was holding Monobear in her arms, giving the peace sign to the camera.

"Switch it off," Mark said harshly. "Now."

"Okay," Dirk said. He pressed a button. The video disappeared. "So you now see?"

"Yeah, I see it all right," Mark said. "I have no doubt that girl's responsible for this."

"Then that means the Despair Event's spread," Dirk said.

"What if it's affecting our families?" Mark said.

"That's why we need to get out of here right now," Dirk said. "We may actually be on the brink of the end of the world."

"What?" Ella said from across the room, having taken her headphones out. "Did you say the end of the world."

"I did," Dirk said. "Our families may be in great danger."

"No way," Ella said. Her face turned pale. "Are you sure?"

"Monobear is from the Despair Event," Dirk said. "He seems to be the puppet of the leader – Junko Enoshima."

"Oh my god," Ella said. She walked over to the two of them. "I have to see."

"Sure," Dirk said. He began to browse through the files. "I'll show you."

"Just make it quick," Mark said. He was still reeling from the fact that he had interviewed the person that was now imprisoning him.

"And here," Dirk said. A new video was displayed on screen, the thumbnail being that of Junko Enoshima holding Monobear in her arms in a way that was strikingly similar to Shauna with Cammy. "Let me just press play, and—God damn it! What the hell?!" All of a sudden, the computer froze before going into a blue-screen crash. After what seemed like ages of staring at the error message, the computer shut down.

"Whoops! I guess I didn't iron out all these problems before letting you bastards loose! Oh well!" Everyone turned around to see Monobear standing in front of them.

"G-get away from us!" Ella shrieked, backing up against the table. "You... you gremlin!"

"What's with all the insults?" Monobear said. He lowered his head and sighed. "I'm nothing but a benevolent headmaster! I'm not even forcing you to kill against your will!"

"Benevolent my ass," Dirk said. "You shut down this computer to stop us seeing the footage, didn't you?"

"Accusations flying everywhere!" Monobear fumed. "Why would I do such a thing?"

"Don't insult our intelligence," Dirk said. "You didn't want us seeing any more footage of the Despair event. Admit it."

"Okay, okay!" Monobear snapped. He turned to face Mark, his red eye glowing. "I admit it! And if you show it ever again, you will be executed!"

Mark shrunk in his seat. "S-sorry," he stammered. "But I didn't even play it!"

"Don't hurt him," Dirk said. "I accessed his private files."

"And why would you do that?!" Monobear said.

"Let me explain," Ella said. "We're throwing a dance tomorrow, and I'm compiling a playlist of everyone's favourite songs."

"Eh, how boring," Monobear said. "I was expecting something fun! Like a firing squad!"

"That's not very fun..." Mark said.

"Your tastes just aren't very refined!" Monobear said.

"Anyway, that's why we're looting through everyone's files," Ella said. "Nothing to worry about."

"If you say so..." Monobear said. "And in fact, I can't wait to see you all at the dance! I wonder who'll dance with Monobear...? Just thinking about it gets me all sweaty!"

"That's repulsive," Dirk said.

"Shut up," Monobear said. "Anyway, I'll see you bastards around. Have fun with the School Life of Mutual Killing! Upupu!" And with that, Monobear left.

"Damn it," Dirk said. "Sorry Ella, but I guess I can't show you."

"It's fine," Ella said, visibly shaken. "That thumbnail was more than enough for me to see anyway."

"Anyway," Mark said. "I don't think Monobear wants us talking about that any more."

"I'm okay with that," Ella said. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to continue to create the playlist." She walked away from the two of them, returning to her computer.

"Now what?" Mark said to Dirk.

"Not sure," Dirk said. "But I do know that I won't rest until we're out of here."

"Yeah," Mark said. "Anyway, any plans for the dance?"

"I'm personally on the fence about it," Dirk said.

"Why?" Mark asked.

"Because Monobear's more than likely to gate crash," Dirk said. "However, it otherwise sounds like a good idea."

"Yeah," Mark said. "And besides, it allows for us all to be in one place, making it nearly impossible for a murder to happen."

"There's that too," Dirk said. "Although, I'm just wondering about getting out still. This dance may provide us with the perfect opportunity."  
"How?" Mark said.

"Simple enough," Dirk said. "We all go to the dance. Monobear gate crashes, leaving him unable to monitor everything. I leave the dance early, and try and hack the system."

"You think you can do it?" Mark asked.

"Probably," Dirk said. "If the timing's right, and Shauna doesn't drag me along."

Ella then suddenly stood up from her seat. "I've finished the playlist," she said.

"That's great news!" Mark said.

Ella smiled. "Glad you think so." She then began to walk across the IT room. Mark noticed that the computer had been switched off. "I've got the playlist on a USB drive, if you're wondering."

"Where are you heading now?" Dirk said.

"I'm going to see Shauna," Ella said. "I need to see if she's had any luck in finding some more speakers."

"Okay then," Mark said. "See you around."

"See you," Ella said. She left the IT room. Mark and Dirk remained there in silence for a few moments.

"Now what?" Mark said.

"I'm gonna stay here for a while," Dirk said. "Gonna try my luck with the network again."

"All right then," Mark said. "I might go and see if anyone needs help anywhere."

"You do that," Dirk said with a grin. "I might head out soon if I don't get anywhere."

"Okay then," Mark said. He stood up from his seat, and walked towards the doorway. "Later."

* * *

"Charlie, could you place the palette over there?" Ben asked.

"Oh! Sorry," Charlie said. She carried the palette over to the table on the far side of the art studio. Nina was perched on the edge of the table, engrossed in playing on a GameBoy.

"A little retro, don't you think?" Carlos asked. He was stood over Nina, watching her play Kirby.

"I know," Nina said. "You can't beat the classics though!"

"Um, shouldn't you two be helping?" Charlie said as sternly as she could muster.

"We're just taking a break," Nina said.

"A break that's been going on for over an hour," Chelsea said dryly from across the studio as she painted onto a banner. It currently read 'Enhanced Talent Level Dance Night!'. Melissa had come up with it earlier when she and Shauna had checked up on them. Chelsea had found it charmingly clever. Ben had had no argument either. So that was the current motto.

She dipped the brush in the water, before dipping it in a pale yellow and placing the brush on the outline of a sun in the corner.

"Wait!" Ben called over to Chelsea before she touched the banner.

"What is it?" Chelsea asked.

"Don't use that brush," he offered. "The strokes will be uneven. Try a thinner one."

"Oh, okay," Chelsea said. "You're the artist here." She placed the brush down and picked up the thinner one, dipping it in the same paint. As Ben had said, the strokes were much smoother, and she had managed to evenly coat the shape in around five minutes.

"Looks good," Ben said. He was currently using spray paints on a large sphere – he was creating a disco ball.

"So's yours," Chelsea said. She smiled warmly.

"Thanks," Ben replied. "I'm glad to hear that." He then looked behind him. "Hey, Nina, how are the tablecloths going?"

"Oh," Nina said, quickly hiding the game console. "They're going great!"

"I can see from here you've only painted one of them," Ben said dryly. "The aim is to complete everything today to allow it time to dry overnight."

"Sorry," Nina said.

"Charlie, could you help them?" Ben said. "They're useless on their own..."

"Okay," Charlie said. She picked up a paintbrush, and sat down at the table, beginning to paint palm trees onto the cloth.

"Much better," Ben said.

"You're good," Chelsea said.

"Well, after running a pre-school art club, you learn how to deal with this kind of behaviour," Ben said.

"It's kind of funny, you know?" Chelsea said.

"What is?" Ben said.

"This entire situation," Chelsea exclaimed. "I mean, we've been trapped in this school by a demonic teddy bear, told to kill each other, are instead preparing for a dance, and you're comparing Enhanced Talent Level students to preschoolers!"

Ben chuckled. "I suppose it is kind of funny when you put it that way," he said.

"Hey now! That's not funny at all!" Monobear suddenly appeared from nowhere, standing between Chelsea and Ben. Chelsea leaped back, letting out a yelp of surprise. "I'm not a teddy bear!"

"Get out of here!" Chelsea cried out.

"Why?" Monobear said. "So you can get back to flirting with the ETL Abstract Artist?"

Chelsea flushed red. "I am not flirting!"

"Whatever," Monobear said. "Just remember, keep it PG-13 if you're not in the dorm rooms."

"Oh my god!" Chelsea exclaimed.

"I don't actually care," Monobear said. "Just be careful that he isn't actually plotting to murder you!"

"Why would I do that?" Ben said. "I'm not stupid enough to fall into this game, Monobear."

"That's what they all say!" Monobear said. "Anyway, you're distracting me from the main point!"

"Which is?" Chelsea said. She folded her arms, and glared at him. The others had become aware of the commotion, and were watching from across the room.

"You bastards and your appalling secret planning skills!" Monobear cried out. "I've overheard you bastards are planning a dance for tomorrow without telling your dear headmaster. I feel put out!"

"Of course we're not going to tell you," Chelsea said, keeping her voice steely. "And could you stop calling us bastards? It's not really appropriate language for this kind of setting, and especially not from a headmaster."

"I'm just imitating the vocabulary of a modern teen!" Monobear exclaimed. "You bastards swear like sailors all the time! I'm trying to connect with you!"

"To be fair, I only do that when I'm annoyed at a game," Nina pitched in. "I don't think anyone openly swears to people as casually as you do."

"And I think if Charlie tried to swear, the world would implode," Carlos said. He smiled at Charlie. Charlie avoided his gaze, and returned to painting the tablecloths, going bright red.

"Ah, yes, how sweet-mannered!" Monobear said. "I'd watch out; she's most likely going to be the first culprit!"

"What!" Charlie exclaimed. "I wouldn't ever—"

"That's enough," Chelsea said. "Now, is there a point to your presence? Or are you just trying to rile us up into killing each other left and right?"

"I would never do such a thing!" Monobear said. "You bastards can be so mean sometimes!"

"Just get to the point," Ben said.

"Okay, okay!" Monobear snapped. "I just want to know about the dance you bastards are putting on, is all."

"And why do you want to know that?" Nina said.

"So I can be crowned prom king!" Monobear said, chuckling.

"You're not invited," Chelsea said.

"Hurtful!" Monobear said. "And after constructing this academy just for you!"

"Fine," she groaned. "I guess you can stand outside of the hall or something. Just don't interact with us on the evening, okay?"

"Yes!" Monobear cried out. "You bastards are the first to let dear Monobear come to a social gathering! I promise I won't instigate any further murders! Upupu!"

"Is that all?" Ben said.

"Yeah, yeah," Monobear replied. "See you bastards around." But before he left, Monobear glanced at Chelsea's banner. "Hey! There's something missing!"

"What are you doing?!" Chelsea yelled as Monobear grabbed the thickest brush available.

"Making it pretty," Monobear responded. Chelsea watched helplessly as Monobear began to paint in the corner. After a minute, a sloppily-painted Monobear face was underneath the text, which was encapsulated by a speech bubble.

"You've ruined it," Chelsea said harshly.

"No I haven't!" Monobear said. "And this is now the official banner for the dance! It must be used! I'll make it a new rule!" Everyone's ElectroIDs suddenly bleeped. Chelsea looked at hers, rolling her eyes.

**New Rule: The banner Monobear so beautifully helped to create must be used for the dance.**

"You're kidding, right?" Nina said. "As in, this is a real rule that we must follow?"

"Of course it is!" Monobear fumed. "And if any of you bastards don't hang it up, I will execute someone!" He sighed. "I won't let you bastards stifle true art!"

"It's not art though!" Chelsea snapped. "It looks like a crude drawing that a five year old would be ashamed to create!"

"Eh, everyone's a critic in this modern day and age," Monobear said. "Anyway, I'll see you bastards later! Enjoy the School Life of Mutual Killing for all it's worth! Upupu~" Monobear then suddenly left, leaving the students in the art studio alone.

"Oh my god," Chelsea said. "Is this bear for real? I'm actually tempted to throw this banner in a furnace."

"I wouldn't do that," Ben reasoned. "It'll just provoke him further. Humour him on this; it's not like this banner is of a significant purpose, anyway."

"You're right," Chelsea sighed. "But he just pushes all my buttons in the wrong way."

"Ignore him," Nina offered. "He's only trying to get a rise out of us."

"I suppose," Chelsea said. "All right. I won't let him bother me any more."

"That's the spirit," Nina said with a smile. "Now, let's continue to prepare for this dance!"

"Um, Nina," Ben said. "You and Carlos still haven't done anything. You could really learn from Charlie; she's completed two tablecloths during the time Monobear was here."

"What?!" Carlos exclaimed. "No way!"

"It's true," Charlie said. She cracked a timid smile. "Just look."

"Haha, man we're useless..." Nina said. "In fact, we should probably let Charlie do all the work since she's the only competent one!"

"Not so fast," Ben said. "You can get to decorating the cups and plates. It's not too hard: just follow the patterns on the tablecloths."

"All right then," Carlos said. "Let's go, Nina."

"Argh! But Meta Knight and the—" Nina began. Carlos switched off the GameBoy.

"We're helping out," he said.

"Hmph," Nina huffed. "Fine." The two of them walked over to the table which contained hundreds of white Styrofoam cups and plates. Carlos let out a nervous laugh.

"That sure is a lot, isn't it?" he said.

"It is," Ben replied. "And if you begin now, you should be finished by Night Time."

"What?!" Nina exclaimed. "But that's twelve hours from now!"

"Suck it up," Ben said. "That just means you get more free time tomorrow."

"Huh, I guess," Nina said. "Come on, Carlos, let's get to it."

Ben watched with a smile as Nina and Carlos began to work on the plates and cups. They were all on schedule to complete everything before Night Time, provided too many breaks weren't taken.

"You think they'll complete it all?" Chelsea said.

"I hope so," Ben replied. They both smiled at each other, and Ben returned to his disco ball. The thought of murder did not exist within the art studio, and that was just how they all wanted it.

* * *

Melissa stood next to Shauna in the meeting hall, holding a stack of chairs. She grunted with the effort.

"Just place them on the stage," Shauna said. "If we can't find a place to store them, we'll just keep the curtain shut so we don't see them."

"Okay then," Melissa said. She walked past Shauna, and up to the stage. John was also on-stage, moving a stack of chairs. Melissa placed her stack next to his.

"Tiring, huh?" he mused.

"Yeah," Melissa said. "Please tell me you didn't need to psychoanalyse to come to that conclusion." She offered a weary smile.

"No," John replied warmly. "I'm tired as well."

"I doubt it's possible to not be," Melissa said. "But it'll be worth it in the end, won't it?"

"Should be," John said. "And to psychoanalyse, I can tell you're looking forward to it."

"Well yeah," Melissa said. "I've never actually been to a dance before."

"Have you not?" John said, startled.

"It's my first time," Melissa said. "Which is kind of funny, considering how one of my novels revolves around a prom."

"I guess so," John replied. "To be honest, I always found dances to be a little bothersome. It's hard to enjoy yourself when you have desperate teens wanting to know if their crush feels the same way."

"Sounds harsh," Melissa said.

"It was amusing at times, though," John said wistfully. "Although, it's not the best feeling in the world when you're crushing someone's dreams with the truth."

"I can imagine," Melissa said. "My peers always hated me, so I wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of knowing that I was still willing to go to events they participated in."

"I can see why," John said.

"Hey, you two," Shauna said. "You can talk later: we need to get this hall ready for when the others begin to bring in everything!"

"I guess we've been speaking for too long," Melissa said. "I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah," John said. The two walked off the stage on separate sides, picking up more chairs.

On the other side of the hall, Naomi and Andrew were sweeping up the floor with brooms Joel had found in a storage cupboard. Joel was currently taking down welcome posters from the walls.

"Whoo!" Naomi said, skating across the floor with her broom. "Andy, you should try skate-sweeping! It's like the best thing ever!"

"Maybe later," Andrew said as he swept up a pile of dust into the corner. "I'm not really a skates kind of guy."

"But you're a race-car driver!" Naomi exclaimed. "You'd love this!"

"Skating's nothing like being behind the wheel," Andrew said. "That, and, I've kind of had a traumatic past with roller skates."

"What do you mean?" Naomi said. "How can skates cause you trauma! They're nothing but goodness!"

"When I was ten or so," Andrew said. "Yeah, I think it was ten... Anyway, I got this sweet pair of roller skates for my birthday. And being the eager speedster I've always been, I just had to try going down a hill."

"And...?" Naomi said. She twirled on the spot, smiling.

"I kind of ran into a truck," Andrew said. "I was hospitalised for over a month."

"Whoa!" Naomi exclaimed. "Is this for real?!"

"Yep," Andrew said. "Since then, I've never worn skates again."

"Aww, how awful!" Naomi said. She stuck her tongue out. "Then again, if you hadn't have done that, then you could have maybe been the ETL Skater instead of me!"

"Maybe," Andrew said. "But racing's always been my passion anyway."

"That's a relief," Naomi said. She then turned away from Andrew, and looked to Joel. "Hey, Joel! How are you doing?"

"I'm doing fine," Joel said. He tore down another poster. "You?"

"I think we're nearly done here!" Naomi said. "Andy's swept up everything on his side of the hall!"

"And you?" Joel asked.

"Uh," Naomi faltered. "I'm kinda nearly close to the end?"

"You've barely started, haven't you?" Joel said flatly.

"But I have a good reason!" Naomi said. "I was skate-sweeping!"

"Skate-sweeping?" Joel said.

"Yeah!" Naomi said. "It's where you skate around whilst sweeping up! But it's kinda hard to actually do any sweeping up..."

"Just as I thought," Joel said. Another poster fell from the wall. Joel placed it in the pile. "I've just got this strip of wall to do, and then I'll help you out."

"Woo-hoo!" Naomi cheered. She skated up to Joel, and kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks!"

"Uh, you're welcome," Joel said, blushing. "That's an odd way to express gratitude, though."

"Oh, that's not my gratitude," Naomi said. "You're just so cute I couldn't resist!" She winked, and returned to sweeping.

"Don't worry," Andrew said to Joel. "She does this to everyone. Think of it as a compliment."

"Okay then," Joel said. "I'll try not to put too much thought into it."

"Good! Since that kind of stuff borders on upping the age rating!" Monobear sprung out of seemingly nowhere, glaring at Joel.

"Wah!" Joel cried out, stumbling backwards into the wall.

"What do you want now?" Andrew pressed, leaning on his broom.

"Just letting you know that your favourite bear is going to be the star of this dance!" Monobear said.

"That's not cool!" Naomi said. "I hereby decree this dance to be one hundred percent Monobear-free!"

"You can't do that!" Monobear taunted. "I'm the headmaster, and besides, the bastards in the art studio gave me the okay!"

Joel gave Monobear a withering look. "They were just trying to get rid of you," he said.

"I don't care!" Monobear said. "And I think you're going to love the special Monobear decorations!"

"What have you done to the decorations?" Andrew asked.

"Don't worry! It's not like I've laced them with cyanide or something," Monobear said.

"Why would you even think of that?!" Naomi said.

"One of you bastards is sure to kill," Monobear said. "I'm just trying to give you friendly advice!"

"In what twisted world does lacing decorations count as friendly advice?!" Joel said incredulously.

"Upupu!" Monobear giggled. "You bastards haven't lived yet if you don't think that's friendly advice!"

At that point, Shauna walked over to the group, seeing the commotion.

"What's going on over here?" she said.

"Uwah!" Monobear cried out. "It's the creepy puppet girl!"

"How many times do I have to say it?" Shauna said. "Cammy is not some demon-spawn hell-bent on usurping you as headmaster! He's just a puppet!"

"That's what the last one said," Monobear growled. "And I had to end up executing her along with ten of her remaining units! But at least that taught me a valuable lesson about adopting others as siblings!" He then leered at Cammy. "So don't get any ideas, you chuckle-monkey!"

"Cammy's incapable of making noise," Shauna said. "You're being paranoid."

"I don't know," Monobear said, shrugging. "He seems awfully likely to commit a murder!"

"Oh my god," Shauna said. She groaned. "He. Is. Not. Alive!"

"I'm just messing with you!" Monobear said. "After all, I wouldn't want to upset the lead party planner so much that she denies me entry!"

"I don't think I'm actually capable of stopping you from entering," Shauna said. "You could just pop up anyway."

"True," Monobear said.

"Wait a sec," Naomi added. She pulled out her ElectroID. "Did you make this new rule up?"

"Oh yeah," Monobear said. "You bastards were so insistent on denying my beautifully crafted banner to be hung up in here!"

"Well yeah," Shauna said. "I can imagine that this banner is anything but beautiful."

"Bleh!" Monobear yelled. "Just remember that if it's not up there, the body count will rise rapidly!"

"You'd really kill someone over a banner?" Andrew asked in disbelief.

"Don't try me!" Monobear said. "I'll have you know I once blew up someone for insulting my colour scheme!"

"You can't be serious!" Naomi cried out.

"I am," Monobear said.

"We're derailing here," Shauna said. "And if you keep us talking for too long, then we won't have this place ready by tomorrow."

"Oh no!" Monobear said. "That simply cannot happen! If this dance doesn't go on, it'll be so despair-inducing that I just might faint!" Monobear placed a paw to his forehead as if to exaggerate.

"Exactly," Shauna said. "So if you could leave us alone, we'll get done much quicker."

"Okay, I'm off," Monobear said. "See you bastards later. Or sooner, if a murder takes place. Upupu~" He then vanished from sight, off to who knew where.

"Man," Joel said. "That bear is a real piece of work, huh?"

"Tell me about it," Shauna said. "I just hope he doesn't ruin this dance."

"I don't think he will," Andrew said. "It provides too perfect a scenario for a murder motive."

"Don't talk like that!" Naomi said. "You'll just bring bad luck!"

"I wouldn't worry," Andrew replied. "None of us are stupid enough to actually commit a murder."

"Yeah," Shauna added confidently. "And as long as I'm here, nobody will die!"

"That's a little over-confident, isn't it?" Joel said.

"Not really," Shauna said with a smile. "There are only sixteen of us, and if we're all at this dance, then nobody can commit a murder without being caught." She smiled. "That, and, I'm pretty sure we're all good people who wouldn't dream of killing."

"Hopefully," Andrew said.

At this point in time, the doors to the hall opened, revealing Ella, who was holding a USB drive.

"Ella!" Shauna said. "How's the playlist going?"

"Done," Ella said with a smile. "Now it's just a matter of rigging up the speaker system."

"That's great!" Shauna said.

"I think I saw some speakers upstairs," Ella said. "Could you possibly come and help me to look?"

"Of course!" Shauna said. "Do you need anyone else to help carry them?"

"That will be unnecessary," Ella said. "I wouldn't want to hinder the progress here. Besides, we could easily just pick them up tomorrow."

"All right then," Shauna said. "I'll help you look." She smiled at the others around her. "I'll see you all later!" They watched as Shauna and Ella walked out of the hall. The doors slammed shut loudly.

"Okay then," Joel said. "I think I'm done with the posters." He motioned to the now bare wall.

"Wha?" Naomi said. "You were working whilst we were talking?!"

"Yeah," he said. "Is that a problem?"

"Not really..." Naomi said.

"Besides," Joel continued. "That means I can now help you with the sweeping!"

"Hell yeah!" Naomi said. "Broom buddies!"

Joel chuckled. "That's the spirit." He grabbed a spare broom from the corner of the room, and walked up to Naomi, beginning to sweep.

Andrew watched this with a smile. Everything was going perfectly, and despite Monobear's threats, everyone was still in a good mood.

This dance was going to be perfect.

* * *

Wyatt was sat at the desk in his room, working away at his sewing machine, when the door knocked.

"I'll be one second," he shouted, returning to the sewing machine. He soon finished the stitch, and stood up, stretching and adjusting his glasses. He quickly walked over to his door, and opened it up. Marian was standing on the other side, holding a pile of fabric. It was stacked high enough that it nearly towered over her face.

"I found some more fabric," she said. "You think this'll be enough?"

Wyatt laughed. "Should be." He then reached his arms out. "Here. I'll take half of the pile."

"Thanks," Marian said. Wyatt reached up to the top of the pile, and took roughly half of it. Immediately he was surprised by the weight of it, but still smiled.

"Just put it on my bed," he said as he walked across the room.

"Okay," Marian replied. Wyatt placed his fabric down first. She followed suit. "So, how are the outfits going?"

"I'd say they're going quite well," Wyatt said. "I've finished all the base outfit shapes, and now I just have to individualise them all."

"Awesome," Marian said. "And you have all the right measurements?"

"Yes," Wyatt said. "I can tell someone's measurements from just a passing glance."

"Really?" Marian said. "That's impressive."

"Says the girl who can convince any judge of a person's innocence or guilt," Wyatt countered wryly.

"That's not particularly exciting, though," Marian said. "There are more talented lawyers than there are fashion designers."

"Hey now," Wyatt said. "Need I remind you that you were single-handedly responsible for convicting Sunshine Sally?"

"I suppose," Marian said. "Sorry. It's just that I'm so used to my talent it feels kind of useless."

"Never say that," Wyatt said. He gave her a warm grin.

"Anyway," Marian said. "Can I get some spoilers for our outfits?"

"Nu-uh," Wyatt said, winking. "You'll have to wait and see."

"Aw, come on!" Marian said. "Not even a peek?"

"My lips are sealed," Wyatt said. Marian began to laugh at that. It was that contagious type of laugh, and Wyatt joined in. However, the sound of the door knocking was still louder than the camaraderie.

"Who could that be?" Marian said.

"Not sure," Wyatt replied. He stood up. "I'll go check."

"Stop right there," Marian said. "You get back to making our stunning outfits; I'll deal with the door."

"If you say so," Wyatt said.

Marian walked over to the door, opening it.

"Hello?" she said, seeing Mark standing there. "Oh, hey Mark."

"Hey Marian," Mark said. "What are you doing here?"

"Helping Wyatt out," she said. "You?"

"Shauna directed me here," he explained. "She told me that the art studio and meeting hall already have enough people, and that Wyatt might need some help."

"I suppose," she said. "Come in. We'll see if there's something for you to do."

"Thanks," Mark said, walking through into Wyatt's room. Marian closed the door behind him.

"Oh, hello Mark," Wyatt said, sorting through the piles of fabric.

"Hi," Mark said. "I came here to see if you need any help. Shauna sent me."

"Did she?" Wyatt said. "Well, I'm pretty efficient on my own, but if you want to help out with things like going on expeditions to find accessories for the outfits, be my guest."

"I'm fine with that," Mark replied. "I did want to help out."

"Not to mention it cuts my work load in half," Marian said.

"Haha, that too," Mark added, smiling. "Hey, Wyatt, how are the outfits coming along anyway?"

"The base outfits are done," Wyatt explained. "It's just a case of personalising now."

"Cool," Mark said.

"And before you ask, you can't see them yet," Wyatt said. "You'll have to wait until they're done."

"Oh well," Mark said with a shrug. "So, anything you need right now?"

"Not really," Wyatt said. "But I tend to get absorbed in my work, so you could probably keep Marian company for a while."

"All right then," Mark said as Wyatt returned to the sewing machine with a pile of blue and green fabric.

"And he's off," Marian said, motioning to Wyatt as he so carefully operated the machine. "You'll be lucky to see him surface before dinner."

"Oh yeah!" Mark said. He lifted a hand up, revealing a bag. "I got some dinner on the way here."

"It's already that time?" Marian said.

"Yeah," Mark replied. He set it down on Wyatt's empty bedside desk. "What do you want?"

"What do you have?" Marian asked.

"It's essentially the same menu as yesterday," Mark said. "Except no lasagne. I caught Monobear eating from it and I wasn't going to risk contamination."

"Smart," Marian said. "In that case, just pass me a veggie burger."

"Vegetarian?" Mark asked.

"Yeah," Marian replied. "Not that it really matters."

"Okay then," Mark said. He reached into the bag, pulling out the sealed food item. Marian took it from him, and began to eat.

"Oh, this is good," she said between mouthfuls. Mark grabbed a hot dog, eating it. It was still warm, he noticed.

"I know," Mark said. "Hey, who do you think makes this stuff?"

"It can't be Monobear," Marian said. "I don't think he's physically capable of cooking."

"Maybe it's whoever is operating Monobear?" Mark said.

"Could be," Marian said. "But why would they do all this?"

"Perhaps so that there's no risk of us starving," Mark replied. "After all, to mimic Monobear, 'it would be despair-inducingly boring to watch you bastards starve!'"

Marian chuckled. "That's pretty accurate."

"And the truth!" Without warning, Monobear appeared in the room. "I would hate for you bastards to be hungry! Just knowing that one of you could be your killer is despair enough!"

"You again," Mark said.

"Why are you here?" Marian asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Monobear said. "To see how your dance preparations are going!"

"So much for secrecy," Marian muttered as she finished her food.

"I have this entire school under heavy surveillance!" Monobear said. "You can't hide anything from me!"

"Okay then," Marian said. "But what do you want from us in particular?"

"I want to see how the beautiful outfits are coming along!" Monobear said.

"Good luck with that," Marian said. "Wyatt's liable to impale you with a sewing needle if you peek."

"Upupu!" Monobear said. "No he isn't! If he even raises a hand to me, he'll be executed faster than a rabbit would dissolve in a vat of acid!"

"That's repulsive..." Mark said.

"To each their own," Monobear huffed before moving across the room. "Hey! Fashion Designer! Let me see my dance outfit!"

"Your what?" Wyatt said, facing Monobear.

"I can't go to the dance without an outfit," Monobear said. "So where is mine?"

"I haven't made you one," Wyatt said simply.

"What?! Outrageous!" Monobear snapped. "I'm your headmaster! It's only common courtesy that you make me an outfit!"

"Oh my god," Wyatt said. "Will you just shut up?"

"Not until I have my outfit!" Monobear said. "And in fact, just to ensure this, it'll be a new rule!" For the second time today, everyone's ElectroIDs bleeped. Marian opened hers up, seeing the update.

**New rule: The ETL Fashion Designer must make Monobear a beautiful outfit for the dance**

"Oh my god," Marian said. "This is getting ridiculous, is it not?"

"It's the only way I can get you bastards to pay attention to me!" Monobear said. He then looked at Wyatt. "And if I don't get my outfit, we'll be having a public beheading instead!"

"What?!" Wyatt exclaimed. "That's far too extreme for such a petty matter!"

"Then to avoid this, just make my outfit already!" Monobear fumed.

"Okay, okay!" Wyatt groaned. "Just give me a sec."

"Make sure it really shows off my personality as well!" Monobear said. "And I only want to see black and white used! No other colour!"

"Got it," Wyatt said, rolling his eyes. "Marian, could you pass me the white fabric?"

"Okay," Marian said. She picked up a sheet of white fabric, and handed it to Wyatt.

"Thank you," Wyatt said. He then began to feed the black and white fabric into the sewing machine.

"Stop! Stop!" Monobear cried out. "The shade's all wrong!"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Wyatt snapped. "I didn't know you were also the ETL Fashion Designer."

"I don't appreciate your sharp tongue," Monobear growled. "Start over."

"No," Wyatt said. "It's this or nothing. And before you execute me, think: who else is capable of producing an outfit for you?" He sneered at Monobear. "Well?"

"Fine," Monobear huffed. "I suppose it will do. But this is the last time any of you bastards gain the upper hand on me!" He glared at Wyatt once more, before vanishing from the room.

"You know," Wyatt said as he continued working at the fabric. "If I didn't know better, I could swear Monobear's trying deliberately to make himself end up being the victim."

"I'm not sure there," Marian said. "Especially not for the first case; he'll definitely want it to be contained within the ETLs."

"Well, he's gonna be disappointed," Wyatt said. He grabbed a pair of scissors, and began to cut at the black fabric. "Nobody is going to be committing a murder any time soon."

"Hopefully not ever," Mark added. "He'll eventually give up on us after a while, and then there wouldn't be a reason to murder."

"And the authorities will come to our rescue anyway," Marian said. "I'd give it maybe two months tops before we're out of here."

"Yeah," Mark said. "I think we can hold out until then."

"Won't it be hilarious seeing Monobear get taken down?" Wyatt said with a chuckle.

"Definitely," Marian said. She looked over at the bag. "Hungry?"

"Not really," Wyatt said. "I might grab a bite to eat once I'm done with Monobear's appalling outfit."

"Okay then," Marian said. "Don't spend too long on it though: it's essentially no different to making an outfit for Shauna's puppet."

"Don't say that," Mark said. "You might bring him back."

"I doubt it," Marian said. "The little creep probably has business elsewhere."

"Yeah," Mark said.

The conversation then died down for a while, and Mark and Marian sat on the bed whilst Wyatt slaved away over on his desk. He quickly finished Monobear's outfit, but like the others, refused to show it. At one point, Mark pulled his camera out, and filmed Wyatt making the outfit, talking over it.

"Still filming?" Marian asked wryly once Mark finished with the camera.

"Yeah," he said. "I'll be putting the first episode together after the dance."

"You're going to be filming the dance?" Marian said.

"Of course," Mark said. "It's no beach party, but it'll do."

"I suppose," Marian said. "Just don't glorify it."

"I'm not," Mark said. "I'm just presenting the reality. And the current reality is that we're all banding together to fight Monobear's School Life of Mutual Killing."

"It is," Marian said. "Can't fault you there." Mark went to reply, but was cut off by a sound ringing out.

_Ding-dong! Ding-dong!_

"_Attention you bastards. It is now ten pm, meaning that it is now Night Time. The cafeteria has been locked, and the hallway lights have been turned off. Pleasant dreams!"_

An uneasy atmosphere soon descended. Mark, Marian, and Wyatt all looked at each other, their eyes wide.

"Well," Marian said. "I guess we should all head to our rooms for the evening, then."

"I suppose," Mark said. "We don't want to be too tired for the dance, do we?"

Wyatt was the one who spoke their thoughts. "Do you think there's gonna be a murder?"

"I don't know," Marian replied, uneasy. "I hope not."

"There probably won't be," Mark said. "It's just tiredness and fear talking here."

"Yeah," Marian said. "That's all."

"Are you going to bed now?" Mark asked Wyatt.

"No," he said. "I naturally fall asleep at midnight, which gives me two more hours to finish a couple of outfits."

"I guess," Mark said. "In that case, goodnight." He began to walk towards the door.

"Yeah," Marian said, following Mark. "See you in the morning."

Wyatt smiled. "I'll try and get your outfits done before then."

"You'd better hold to that promise," Marian said. She and Mark then opened the door, and stepped out into the hallway, heading towards their dorm rooms. Wyatt returned to working on the outfits.

The other ETLs soon returned to bed as well. All sixteen dreamed peacefully, but in their minds, one clear thought stuck out: one of them could be planning a murder, and they could be the victim.


End file.
